


Bleedthrough

by rundownes



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, RWBY
Genre: Angst, Eventual Happy Ending, Gen, Mental Breakdown, Mystery, Reincarnation - kind of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:20:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 31,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24686800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rundownes/pseuds/rundownes
Summary: Among other things, Weiss dreams of fire.“If she died, it happened when she was seventeen,” Weiss says. “I think she might be haunting me.”
Relationships: Ruby Rose & Weiss Schnee, Weiss Schnee & Azula (Avatar)
Comments: 33
Kudos: 94





	1. Chapter 1

When she is four, Weiss dreams of setting her bed on fire.

It's her bedroom, but it's not. The colors are different— red and black instead of white and blue, a different vanity and mirror. The flames come out from her hands but they don't hurt her. Blue fire. _Her_ fire. The thought makes her giggle with a delighted pleasure and she watches as they lick the sheets and covers, turning from blue to orange and filling the air with acrid smoke.

Her brother rushes into her room, horrified. _"..zu… you… doing?"_ his voice is distant. He puts hands on her shoulders, trying to pull her away. _"..e.. zu... go!"_

_Mine._

_It's mine!_

Weiss wakes up and she can still smell the smoke. The image of blue flames dancing is burned into her eyes. The next night, possessed by the fading memory of that image, she sneaks into her grandfather's old study and lights the fireplace. Her mother finds her there a few hours later, crying quietly and cradling her burnt fingers.

"Oh, darling," her mother sighs, looking at Weiss's fingers. "You should know better than to play with fire by now."

What her mother doesn't understand is that Weiss isn't crying because of the pain.

She's crying because the fire won't listen to her.

↓

When she is eight, Weiss is fairly sure she hates her brother.

She doesn't really know why. It's certainly not a logical feeling. Whitley is five and has large blue eyes, and though he still throws tantrums sometimes, she supposes he's cute enough. But Weiss just doesn't like him. Something about the idea of _brother_ bothers her on a fundamental level _._ She doesn't trust him with anything.

_(What's wrong, Zuzu? Why don't you run off and find mommy to cry to?)_

Her mother has started drinking and begins to ignore her more days than not. For some reason, this doesn't surprise Weiss at all, and after a while, it doesn't even hurt anymore. Weiss feels like she's used to being ignored by her mother. She feels like this is the way things were originally supposed to be.

Maybe that's why Weiss dreams of her mother disappearing.

_Didn't even bother to say goodbye to me, of course, thinks I'm a_ monster—

_I don't care, don't need her anyways—_

_Father loves me—_

In the waking world, Weiss knocks on the study of her father. She enters timidly, hands cradled behind her back.

"Father. I was wondering if… we could spend some time together?"

"Darling, I'm sorry," her father says, sounding not very apologetic at all. His eyes are firmly glued to the papers on his desk. "But I'm very busy right now."

"I understand," Weiss nods. "Some other time, maybe?"

"Of course," her father says.

Unlike in her dreams, though, her father never ends up making good on his word. Unlike in her dreams, it seems like even her father doesn't love her. After a while, Weiss's hatred for Whitley dulls into a sort of apathy. She begins to spend more time with Winter, because Winter is unknown, Winter is different, Winter is something she's never had and has nothing to compare to.

_(Lu Ten?)_

Weiss's grandfather dies that year, too.

↓

When she is eleven, Weiss finally unlocks her Semblance.

It comes to her in the wake of a nightmarish, shuddering dream. Her father and her brother facing off each other in a chamber while she watches from a distance. Her brother falling to his knees like the pathetic weak boy he is, begging for mercy and forgiveness as her father strides up to him, demanding he fight.

Her father reaching down and lighting his palm with fire and burning her brother's handsome face. Her brother screaming, the crackle and smell of charred fat and flesh filling the air. And her looking on, smiling.

_That's what you get. You're not worthy._

Winter begins to train Weiss on her Semblance. She seems surprised when Weiss gravitates towards Red Dust out of all the available options.

"Not White?" Winter says.

"I don't know," Weiss says, watching the chambers of her rapier spin. "I really can't explain it."

Later, like Winter predicted, Weiss picks up an affinity for White Dust as well. It's not that she grows tired of fire, it's just that it's frustrating when it continues to refuse to turn the proper color. Wielding fire makes her gut churn with equal parts joy, equal parts horror. It makes her head dizzy with a beautiful rush. Wielding ice is easy and soft and soothing.

At least some fire is better than none, she thinks.

↓

When she is fourteen, Weiss decides she is going to be a Huntress.

At this point in time, Winter has already been disowned for joining the military. Weiss agonizes over her own decision for days, wondering if it's worth it. She saw the aftermath of Winter and her father's screaming match. She hates how much she still craves her father's attention, his approval, even now when she should know better.

Her father is disappointed when she tells him, but he doesn't yell or scream at her, so she supposes it could've gone worse. He says, "We will make a deal. You must pass a test of choosing before I'll allow you to go."

Weiss dreams of failure.

_"...decree ...crown… Fire Lord…"_

_"Agni Kai!"_

She fights with her brother. Her fire blazes blue and hot and beautiful, more powerful than it's ever been, enhanced by the comet in the sky. But something's wrong. She's _losing_. It's impossible, her? Losing to her brother, the weakling?

She reaches inside of her and finds the cold-blooded fire. It screams from her and strikes true.

_You don't look so good, Zuzu!_

Uncontrollable laughter.

She ends up locked in ice, frozen by that water tribe peasant. When the ice recedes she is gasping for breath, wet and chained up. No matter how much she thrashes, she can't break free. She's failed. She's failed. She's _failed._ Hot tears pour from her eyes. She breathes fire, shrieking and sobbing.

_I failed…!_

After that dream, Weiss inexplicably develops a fear of drowning.

↓

When Weiss is seventeen, the dreams stop.

She doesn't notice at first. They never came that often in the first place. And with her life changing in a dramatic way, Weiss has frankly too many other things on her mind. She's accepted into Beacon. She passes initiation and officially joins a team of Huntresses in training. There's a lot of friction at first, and so she spends most of her mental energy stressing over that and smoothing things out.

A semester passes in relative mundanity. One morning, Weiss wakes up and staggers to her dresser, frowning at the knots and tangles she can feel practically built into her hair overnight. She rifles through the drawers for something to wear.

"Ty Lee," Weiss says, absentmindedly. "Be a dear and come do my hair."

"What?" Ruby says, sounding utterly puzzled.

"What?" Yang says, laughing.

Weiss freezes.

For a split second, she can't breathe. _Ty Lee?_ Where did that name come from? She knows that name. The feelings that are associated with it are thick and miasmatic and impossible to parse.

_Affection warmth loyalty anger hurt betrayal—_

_(Let them rot!)_

Yang is still laughing in the background, saying something about servants and rich people's lifestyles. She stops laughing when Weiss rushes into the bathroom and begins to throw up her empty stomach.

"Weiss!" Ruby bounds in after her. "Weiss, are you okay? What's going on?"

_(You have such a beautiful aura, Princess!)_

Weiss wipes her mouth and prepares to tell Ruby she's fine. Instead, she says, "You remind me of her so much, you know? She had gray eyes, not silver, and she wore her hair long and in a braid, but sometimes, in the right light, I can see her face in yours. And it doesn't help that your personalities are so similar. Why do you have to be so fucking bubbly and cheerful all the time? Stop it. The worst part is that I really thought you were my friend."

"Weiss—"

"Traitor," Weiss hisses, before she can stop herself. "I _hate_ you." And then she claps a hand over her mouth, horrified.

She doesn't trust herself to speak for several moments. In the light under the bathroom, Ruby's eyes are wide and hurt and confused.

"Ruby, I'm… I'm so sorry," Weiss swallows when she regains her voice. "I didn't mean to say any of that. I don't know what came over me. Please, I just… need to be alone for a moment. Please. Leave me alone."

Ruby looks like she wants to say more but instead she gives a muted nod. She stands up and leaves, the door closing behind her with a click. Weiss climbs to her feet and staggers over to the sink. She wants to rinse her mouth out.

Her gaze locks on her reflection across the mirror. For a moment, she swears her eyes flash gold.

That's when Weiss realizes the dreams have stopped.


	2. Chapter 2

Ruby’s upset.

Weiss isn’t surprised. After the… incident in the bathroom, things have been tense. She thinks Ruby is waiting for a proper explanation. The thing is, though, even Weiss isn’t sure how to properly explain what happened.

There might be something wrong with her.

A couple days pass. Blake takes notice. “What’s going on between you two?” Blake asks during breakfast.

“Well,” Weiss sighs, pushing around the food on her plate. “I may have said some unpleasant things to Ruby.”

“Really? Again?” Blake levels her an unimpressed look. “I thought you guys worked past this months ago.”

“It’s different this time,” Weiss shakes her head. Her stomach churns whenever she thinks about that morning. That _name_. “And I already apologized. Do you think I should apologize again?”

“If she’s still upset, clearly your first apology wasn’t good enough,” Blake says.

“Alright,” Weiss says. She resigns herself to it. “I’ll go talk to her.”

She has a free period after breakfast and goes to the rooftop of the dorms to meditate under the direct light of the sun. It’s a habit she’s not sure where she’s picked up from, but she’s been doing it for as long as she can remember. Normally, meditating helps calm her down and clear her mind. Today, it only emphasizes her unease.

“Hey,” a voice breaks through the film of her thoughts. Yang. “What’s up, Weiss?”

“I already told Blake I’ll go talk to Ruby,” Weiss says.

“Oh, yeah? Great. But actually, I wanted to ask how _you_ were doing. You’ve been acting kind of strange these past few days.”

Yang settles down next to her, offering a kind smile. Weiss bites her lips and says nothing. The truth is, she hasn’t been sleeping very well. But it’s not because of bad dreams and nightmares. In fact, it’s because of the complete opposite reason.

No dreams. No nightmares. Just…

_(Do the tides command this ship, Captain? Are you stupid?)_

She shivers. Her mouth goes dry. It’s as if her body doesn’t know whether it wants to feel hot or cold.

“This might be a stupid question,” Weiss says eventually. “But do you believe in reincarnation?”

“Uh,” Yang says, clearly taken aback. “I can’t say I’ve ever put that much thought into it. Why do you ask?”

“No particular reason,” Weiss says. She opens her mouth to say more then stops, reconsidering. “Never mind. Forget it.”

Yang says, “You can talk to me, you know? I’m your teammate and friend. I won’t judge you.”

_(Can’t trust any of them. Backstabbers and traitors, the whole lot.)_

“I know,” Weiss says. “You’re a good friend.” But she looks towards the ground and doesn’t elaborate, and out of the corner of her eye she sees Yang frown. “Maybe some other time,” she offers, weakly.

Weiss takes Ruby off to the side before the start of Oobleck’s history class to apologize again. Ruby waves off her apology and says it’s fine, before following up with an uncharacteristically serious ‘Are you okay?’ Weiss wonders what Ruby can read on her face. She assures Ruby that nothing is wrong.

During the class itself, Weiss has a hard time paying attention. Part of it is because she’s already reviewed and memorized the content a few weeks earlier. The other part is because her mind is wandering. She thinks of blue fire, of cold-blooded fire, of fire, fire, _fire._ When she puts her head down on her desk, she thinks she can smell smoke.

_(It’s always a delight to watch things burn.)_

Is she okay? Yes, probably.

Inhale. Exhale. Shudder.

“...Miss Schnee, yes! How about you?”

Weiss jolts to attention, palms flattening on the desk. She gives a strained smile. 

“I’m sorry, Professor Oobleck, could you repeat the question?”

“Of course, Miss Schnee! The question was, how did the Great War end?”

That should be easy enough to answer. Weiss is sure she can recite the information in her sleep. So why can she hear her heart thudding in her ears all of a sudden? Why is her stomach tying itself in knots? Weiss stands up, smooths out the hem of her shirt, and begins to speak.

“The Avatar destroyed the Fire Nation’s airfleet and crowned Zuzu as Fire Lord and Zuzu just _surrendered_ , like that, he just _gave up_ , as if it was all some silly little game. Everyone knows I should have been the one to be Fire Lord because Father chose _me_ and anyways I deserved it, I was more _worthy,_ I wouldn’t have rolled over and surrendered like a _—”_

Weiss clacks her mouth shut so fast she bites her tongue and tastes iron. She doesn’t know if she wants to cry or scream, maybe both.

What just happened? she thinks. Why did she say that? There’s a moment of impossibly long silence before the whole class bursts into uproarious laughter. Ruby, sitting besides her, is openly gawking. Even Oobleck is pushing his glasses up, blinking in shock.

“May I be excused?” Weiss says. Her voice sounds far away. “I’m afraid I’m not feeling too well.”

She doesn’t wait for Oobleck to give her permission before she’s leaving, doing all she can to hold herself together until she gets to the hallway. Then, she breaks into a bolt for the bathroom. She locks herself into a stall and tries to get her breathing under control.

_(I’m not crazy. I’m not crazy.)_

_(Shut up, mother. Don’t give me that I look. I know you never loved me.)_

“Shut up,” Weiss groans, holding her head in her hands. “I’m fine. I’m fine. Be quiet.”

If her heart wasn’t beating so fast, Weiss might’ve found it funny that she was suffering a nervous breakdown in a bathroom for the second time in a few days. As it were, she thinks she might be losing her mind.

She makes a point not to look at her reflection when she leaves.

↓

Weiss slinks into her seat for Goodwitch’s combat class right before the bell rings. She can tell there are some people whispering and snickering about her, but Weiss ignores them as best she can, just as she ignores Ruby’s (and the rest of her team’s) concerned gazes. She wants to sink down into the earth, disappear. She feels emotionally exhausted and the day isn’t even halfway over yet.

As her luck would have it, Goodwitch selects her today for the sparring match. Weiss makes her way down to the front of the classroom, trying hard to ignore the tight knot of nerves in her stomach.

Her opponent: Jaune Arc.

Any other day and this would be an easy victory for her. Instead, Weiss finds herself on the backfoot, struggling to keep up as Jaune launches solid strike after solid strike. Her glyphs seem slow, sluggish. They refuse to respond properly when she calls on them. Weiss creates a wall of ice to give her some space, to try and compose herself, but instead she finds herself transfixed by the image of _ice._

Suddenly she’s fourteen again and trapped in a familiar dream. She’s fighting against a teenage boy with dark hair and golden eyes and a burn scar stretching across the left side of his face. He’s calm, and he’s focused, and he’s beating her. The sky is scarlet red. But he can’t beat her. That’s not allowed. He’s weak, and she won’t let it happen. 

The boy’s voice rings out, crystal clear for the first time since she can remember, taunting her.

_“No lightning today? What’s the matter? Afraid I’ll redirect it?”_

What? 

But—

_This isn’t a dream._

Weiss’s guard is left completely open. Jaune hits her across the head with his sword and she goes down hard, Aura shattering.

“That’s enough! Stop the match!”

“Oh my god, Weiss! Are you okay? I’m so sorry, I thought you would—”

_(He’s weak. I can’t lose to him. I won’t allow it!)_

Weiss climbs to her feet, unsteady. She leaves her rapier on the floor and Jaune abruptly stops talking. Weiss doesn’t recognize her own voice as she snarls. “Oh, I’ll show you _lightning_!”

She reaches deep inside of her and rips her poles apart and lunges for Jaune, expecting him to fly backwards in an explosion of crackling light and energy. Nothing happens. There’s blood dripping down her face into her eyes, stinging, and Weiss stares at her outstretched hand.

It’s awfully quiet.

For one moment, she doesn’t know where she is. She takes her hand back and studies it. Opens her palm, tries to summon her fire. Where’s her fire? She is the greatest firebender of her generation. Where is her fire?

She starts to shake. Begins to panic. Was it the Avatar? Did he take her bending away, like he did her father? Her father? Oh, that’s right. In the end, she did lose to Zuzu after all. Her brother is the Fire Lord. She looks around at her surroundings. She’s in a room full of people she doesn’t recognize. What is this? It’s not the asylum.

_(It was you, Mother! How did you turn them all against me?)_

Oh. Oh, wait. She’s not a firebender. Her name is…

She really is losing her goddamn mind.

Weiss’s knees buckle and she blacks out.

↓

Weiss wakes up a few hours later in the infirmary with a stitched up gash on her head. The nurse on duty checks her over then tells her her teammates have been waiting for her outside and sends them in. Weiss’s heart rate and breathing have finally calmed down, but her head still feels like it’s liable to crack open any second. 

“I’m okay. Stop fussing over me.”

“The nurse thinks you have a concussion. I wouldn’t say you’re exactly okay.”

“What the hell was that back there?”

Weiss looks Yang in the eye and says, “A bad joke.” And then she thinks about laughing, because lately, it does sort of feel like her whole life has become a bad joke. She lost to Jaune _(Zuzu)_ of all people. Jaune. 

Don’t be so dramatic, she chides herself. It’s just one loss. Still, Weiss soon discovers that she is in fact laughing. Weiss orders herself to sober up but her body isn’t being cooperative. The laughing gets worse and she doubles over, wheezing. Why is this so funny to her? She touches her face, the scar over her left eye, and covers it with her hand. Oh, Agni. She has a _scar_ on the left side of her face, a scar, just like—

_(You don’t see the family resemblance?)_

“Go on,” she chokes out. “You can laugh. It’s _funny._ ”

“Weiss,” Ruby says, and her leader’s voice is terrified.

Weiss spends several seconds gulping for air, trying to catch her breath. “Sorry,” she says, finally. “That wasn’t on purpose.” Her fists close into a white-knuckled grip around her sheets. Inhale. Exhale. Shudder. Forcing down a last-minute giggle. Before she can second-guess herself, or remember that she can’t _trust these people_ , she confesses, “You’re right, I don’t really think I’m okay.”

_(I am a four hundred foot tall purple platypus bear with pink horns and silver wings.)_

Just a couple days ago, everything was fine.

“Tell us what’s wrong,” Ruby pleads.

Sure, Not-Ty Lee. Since you asked so nicely. “All my life, I’ve had these dreams,” Weiss says. 

“They’re about this girl,” Weiss says. “In the dreams, I’m this girl, and I’m growing up with her, and she’s this… she’s part of this very important and distinguished family. There’s a brother who she hates, and a mother who doesn’t love her, so she tries whatever she can to get her father’s approval, even though deep down, she knows he doesn’t really love her either.”

Her head is pulsing. Her palms feel sweaty. She’s nauseous. She can’t believe she’s really talking about this. It feels like she’s laying her soul bare.

“For a long time, things are okay,” Weiss says. “They aren’t great, and a lot of not great things happen to the girl and her family, but I… the girl, she’s mostly okay. Yeah. She manages to keep it together.”

Weiss feels the corner of her lip twitch without her consent. _Yeah. Keep it together._ She touches her lip with her thumb to make it stop and continues talking. “A couple years pass,” Weiss says. “The girl turns fourteen. Then all of a sudden, everything messes up and she isn’t okay anymore. And she’s locked up, and her mind is broken, and she can no longer think straight. At this point the dreams start to turn fuzzy and incoherent. But they’re still there. I still have them. And I can still see through my— the girl’s eyes.”

She’s aware that her teammates are all looking at her raptly. Is she babbling? She’s not babbling. She doesn’t babble, she’s far too _confident_ and _poised_ and _perfect._ Weiss squeezes her eyes shut not because their faces are too much for her in the moment but because she needs to rest them for a second. The color of Blake’s eyes, gold— Ruby’s earnest and straightforward expression— Yang, concerned but wary— they aren’t intimately familiar.

“But now I don’t have the dreams anymore,” Weiss says. “I didn’t notice not having them at first, because I— the girl— our lives feel so _similar,_ and I’ve grown numb to all but the worst of her incoherency _._ Then I did notice, a couple days ago when she spoke through me for the first time to you, Ruby, and I wonder how I could’ve possibly missed her disappearing when she’s been with me for so much of my life. How I could’ve possibly missed that she’s gone? And I’ve begun to hear things, say things, _her_ things. She’s gone, but she’s not— not really.”

Her head _hurts._ It hurts so much. She opens her eyes again and rushes to finish the story while she thinks she still can. “She’s gone,” Weiss says. “She’s gone, and she’s missing, but she’s not really gone or missing. She’s _here,_ with me. For the longest time, I thought that maybe I was her, in a past life, and maybe I really was her, but now, it’s like— it’s like she’s in my head, and I can’t get her out, and so maybe I was never her, but she was me. Is me. And there’s nowhere else for her to go, but through _me._ ”

“You asked me about reincarnation,” Yang says. “Do you think…?”

“If she died, it happened when she was seventeen,” Weiss says. “I think she might be haunting me.”

A soft whisper in her ear.

_(Even you fear me?)_

Then, she says, “I think I died.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally this story was supposed to be a fairly straightforward oneshot reincarnation-fic, but then I thought it might be interesting to add a twist to it :0


	3. Chapter 3

_I think she might be haunting me._

_Like what? Like a ghost?_

_(And so the Dragon Emperor was cursed by the evil Dark Water Spirit— Zuzu, that's your cue! Come on, get with the program!)_

_(I think I died.)_

For a long time, no one speaks. The pain in Weiss's head spikes and abates in waves. The infirmary is coldly silent.

"It made a lot more sense when I was thinking about it in my head," Weiss's voice cracks. "Which probably explains why it doesn't make any sense once I said it out loud, because I don't think my head is the most trustworthy place right now. So it's alright if you don't want to believe me, since I wouldn't really believe myself either."

"I believe you," Ruby says, and takes her hand.

"I'm having a bit more of a hard time wrapping my mind around all of what you just said," Blake says. "But I can see that this is clearly affecting you, and you've never been one to lie."

"I promised I wouldn't judge you," Yang says. "And I won't."

Weiss wants to cry. Her teammates are such good people. What did she ever do to deserve them? Not-Ty Lee gives her hand a reassuring squeeze, and goosebumps instantly flare all over her arms, and Weiss wants to rip her hand out from Not-Ty Lee's grip and set the world on fire. But she manages to stop herself by reminding herself _silver, not gray, Ruby would never betray me._

_(You would never betray me, right Ty Lee?)_

Shut up, Weiss thinks. Don't ruin this. "Thank you," Weiss manages to say.

Ruby pulls her into a hug, and the girl who no one loves does cry. Just a little bit.

When she's done feeling _pathetic_ and _weak, like Zuzu,_ Weiss wipes her tears away and pulls away from Ruby and says, "I would appreciate it if you all kept what I just told you to yourselves. I know I've probably already ruined my reputation today with how I acted during class, but this is all… It's something very personal to me. Not even my sister knows about what I've told you."

"Of course we won't tell anyone you don't want us to," Ruby says. "Our lips are sealed! Just let us know how we can help you get better."

"That's the thing, I don't know," Weiss says. "This never used to be a problem, if it is a problem, when I still had the dreams. A part of me is hoping that it'll all go away on its own. But as much as I want it to, I have a sinking suspicion that's not going to happen. It started a few days ago, and it's only been getting worse since then."

"You said you think the girl might have started 'haunting' because she died," Blake says, thoughtfully. "So maybe we just need to help her move on and then she'll stop."

"Move on," Weiss repeats. She feels a chill of anticipation? Contempt? "How so?"

"In fairy tales, spirits always linger in the world of the living because they still have regrets, right?" Blake says. "If we could help her work through some of those regrets… What about her life, specifically, can you remember? Do you remember how she died? What was her name?"

Life isn't like a fairy tale. Still, Weiss allows herself to feel hopeful. If anyone can help her with this problem of hers, it'll be her team. "Her name is—"

She pauses.

"I don't know," Weiss says, surprised. "Why don't I know? Did I forget it?" The possibility that she never knew the name of the life she's dreamt so much about— that's ridiculous.

_(I am the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation. I conquered the crown jewel of the Earth Kingdom all without losing a single life. I deserve to sit on throne, to be the Fire Lord.)_

"She— I—" Weiss feels herself growing frustrated. A hot burst of anger. "Damn it all!" She slams a fist into the bedframe and it rattles.

"Woah, Weiss," Yang says, sounding alarmed. "Calm down. It's okay if you don't know."

"I am calm," Weiss grits out. "She's—"

When she is four, she sets her bedroom on fire.

_(..zu… you… doing?)_

"Zu…" Weiss begins. She stops and shakes her head. She can feel something about the syllable isn't right. An annoyed _tch_ escapes her lips. "Her brother who she hates. His name is Zu...ko. Zuko, that's her brother's name. But we just like to call him Zuzu. And Father, his name is… Oza? Ozai. My mother, she disappeared when I was eight. Good fucking riddance. I think there's an uncle, too. Oh, yes. I remember him. Uncle Iroh. Ha. His Royal Kookiness."

Weiss nods, getting a little lost in her thoughts. The fluorescent lighting overhead is harsh and hurts her eyes. She smiles sardonically. "Can you believe they still call him the Dragon of the West?" she says. "Even if he is a halfway decent bender, he's still a tea-loving fuddy-duddy. Ridiculous..."

_(Always favored Zuko, that fat bastard, they all do even though he's worthless.)_

"Weiss," Blake says, gently, catching Weiss's attention, but Blake's tone is a little off. "Are you tired?"

"No?" Weiss looks at Blake, strangely.

"Even if you aren't, I think it might be better if we come back and visit you tomorrow. You've been talking for a while now and you still have a concussion. We don't want to bother you for too long."

"I'm not tired, not anymore," Weiss repeats, eyebrows knitting together. "And you're not bothering me. I still don't even remember how I died."

"You can trust the rest of team RWBY to do a bunch of the heavy-lifting research for you!" Ruby says, cheerfully. "You gave us plenty of important information! But for you, Weiss, I think it's super important that you rest up so you can get back into top-fighting shape as soon as you can! I don't want my partner falling behind, after all, and I'm sure you need all the energy you can to deal with the spooky spirit things."

"Please, as if a little head injury can stop me for long," Weiss rolls her eyes. "I've faced way worse before. Also, spooky spirit things?" She feels like she should be offended.

Ruby's smile turns a little off, too. "Leader's orders," she says, reaching over to pat her shoulder affectionately. "We'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

_(They'll all leave you, in the end. Don't be foolish. Just listen to Father.)_

Her teammates leave. She's fairly sure they will come back since they said they would. Weiss settles herself into the pillow of the infirmary bed, staring up at the ceiling. She really isn't tired anymore. She's never done well with hospitals, and she hopes they won't keep her here for long. The thought of being stuck here _(forever, forgotten)_ makes her inexplicably anxious.

_(I'm not crazy. Let me out, Zuzu! Don't tell me you're afraid of me?)_

"How _I_ died," Weiss tests the words, and shivers.

↓

They sit in their dorm, each on their own bed, a heavy silence engulfing them.

"Wow," Yang says, quietly. "Just… wow. That was not what I was expecting at all."

"Are we really not going to tell anybody else?" Blake says. "We're going to keep it to ourselves?"

"We promised, guys," Ruby says, resolutely. "The only thing we can do is trust Weiss, like she's trusting us."

"I'm a bit worried about her mental wellbeing," Blake says. "I do trust her, it's just…" she stops. "You heard her. She isn't exactly in the best headspace right now."

Knocking on the door. The three of them glance at each other and come to a silent agreement. Jaune comes in, his face a mask of guilt.

"Is she okay?" Jaune says. "I feel so bad about what happened."

"It wasn't your fault," Yang says. "Well, I mean, it kind of was. But your attack was like telegraphed from a thousand yards away, and if she wasn't zoning out I'm sure she would've been able to dodge or at least parry. Her Aura wasn't supposed to have been anywhere close to breaking either. We all saw the levels on the screen."

"Yup, Weiss is fine," Ruby says. "Just a concussion. The nurse said a couple days of bed rest and she'll be good as new. The wound looked super bad on the surface, but it's actually pretty shallow, so it might not even leave a scar behind. Though can you imagine, Weiss with _two_ scars? My partner would look even more like a total badass!"

"I still can't believe I won," Jaune says, though he doesn't sound very happy about it at all.

"You deserved the win. You've been working hard with Pyrrha lately." A beat later, Blake adds, "Really, I'm sure Weiss wouldn't want you beating yourself up over it. It was an honest accident."

Jaune nods, expression relaxing but still remaining somewhat tense. No one wants to push the topic further, the scene which Yang can remember with picture perfect clarity.

" _That's enough! Stop the match!" Professor Goodwitch yells._

_Yang stands up. Besides her, Blake makes a soft, shocked noise and Ruby turns deathly pale. The room erupts with a bout of muttering._

_Jaune takes one look at the blood on his sword and seems like he's about to be violently sick. On the ground, Weiss rolls over, groaning, blood leaking from a huge gash on her forehead, blue eyes cloudy and unfocused._

" _Oh my god, Weiss! Are you okay? I'm so sorry, I thought you would—"_

_Abruptly, Weiss's eyes zero in on Jaune and sharpen with a razorlike attention. In a flash she's climbed to her feet and lunging at him, snarling. All the hair on the back of Yang's neck stands up. The normally calm and poised heiress looks and sounds almost deranged._

" _Oh, I'll show you_ lightning _!"_

_The words don't make any sense to Yang at all. Jaune stumbles backwards as Weiss thrusts a hand in his direction. Nothing happens and someone in the room laughs, nervously. Weiss brings her hand back to her chest and stares at it, then looks around and stares at the room around her, swaying lightly on her feet. Her face, bloodied and wild, tightens with obvious panic._

" _Miss Schnee?" Professor Goodwitch says, carefully._

_Then Weiss's eyes roll up into her head and she drops onto the floor, unconscious._

After Jaune leaves, they continue their discussion in hushed tones. Yang goes ahead and decides to bite the bullet, saying, "Do you really believe that stuff she said about her dreams? The girl? Was it just me, or did it… did it sound kind of like she was talking about herself?"

"What do you mean?" Ruby says.

"I mean," Yang swallows. "A girl from a very important and distinguished family. Who has problems with her family members. Tell me that doesn't sound like Weiss herself to you."

"That sounds like it could be a lot of people, too," Ruby points out. "And it doesn't explain why she would lie or make up all those other things."

"I'm not saying she's lying per say, but we all know Weiss has always been kind of strange about discussing her personal life," Yang says. "Not to mention the concussion may be affecting her more than we realize. Didn't you guys notice the way she kept accidentally slipping into first person, too?"

"She was acting weird even before the concussion," Ruby says, sharply. "In Oobleck's class, remember, and a couple days ago, when…"

Ruby trails off. Yang thinks that her sister might secretly be in denial because of what Weiss said to her. _She told me sh_ e hates _me,_ she remembers, _Ruby all but crying over her partner's words, trying to hide her hurt and tears._

"Look," Blake sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Talking about any of this isn't going to help. It's just speculation. I really think we should consult someone else for their opinion, like one of the professors. Or the headmaster. They'll know better."

"Let's give it a couple more days," Ruby begs. "We owe Weiss at least that much. And I mean, Blake, we didn't tell any of the professors when you disappeared and we were dealing with _your_ thing. That counts for something, doesn't it?"

"That was different," Blake murmurs, bow twitching, but her tone has turned uncertain and guilt-ridden. "But I see your point. I'll go to the library and see if there's anything I can turn up about her… condition."

"Yang and I will look into the girl she was talking about," Ruby says. "We can start working from the names she gave us."

"Alright," Yang says, reluctantly.

She just wishes she didn't have such a bad feeling about all of this.


	4. Chapter 4

"Are you trying to poison me?"

"Excuse me?" the nurse pauses.

"Poison," Weiss says. She eyes the white pills on the tray before her, frowning.

"Those are just some mild painkillers and Aura supplements, I assure you Miss Schnee," the nurse says.

"I've been taking them for days now, and nothing's been changing," Weiss says. "My headache is worse than ever."

"You suffered a head injury. It's not uncommon for recovery to take weeks, even months and years."

Not uncommon for _normal_ people, Weiss hears. But she's a student at the most prestigious Huntsman school in the world. Her Aura should have fixed her by now, especially if she's been taking Aura supplements. But she doesn't feel fixed. She's not even sure she's been healing.

Thus, the only logical and viable conclusion. There has to be… has to be some kind of sabotage going on here.

I'm onto you, Weiss thinks, eyes narrowing as she watches the nurse, a middle-aged woman with streaks of gray in her hair, bustle around to check on the rest of the infirmary. Don't think I'm not. Weiss picks up the pills and instead of swallowing them, she jams them into the space between the bedframe and the mattress. She doesn't know why, specifically, the nurse would do something like this, but there's a lot of people out there who would want to do her harm and the nurse could be in any number of those people's books. The White Fang, for instance. Roman Torchwick. Her brother. Her mo—

_(You're all banished.)_

_Not my mother._ Her headache flares. Weiss digs her fingernails into her palms, hissing slightly at the pain, and it helps to ground her. Her mother's name is Willow Schnee, and her mother is an alcoholic who likes to drink herself to a stupor, and her mother hasn't disappeared. Her mother wouldn't go to such lengths to try and poison Weiss, because her mother does not love Weiss as _equally_ as she does not love her brother, which is to say her mother doesn't particularly give any fucks about Weiss in the first place.

After Weiss is confident that she has that distinction of _mothers_ sorted out once again, Weiss picks over her breakfast without eating anything. It could be that the nurse is poisoning her food, too, so she decides it's better safe than sorry. Weiss moves things around on the tray to make it look like she's been eating and sniffs the glass of water before drinking it. A twinge of paranoia. Is the water more bitter than it's supposed to be?

Weiss puts the tray to the side and decides to go over the assignments she has piling up. Most of the professors have been very understanding about her injury, but Weiss doesn't want to fall behind if she can help it. Weiss pauses over one of the essays she's written for Oobleck. Every time she thinks about the phrase 'The Great War' _,_ it triggers a confusing flurry of images and emotions. Thinking about it as just 'The War' makes things feel even worse. As a result, Weiss has been taking to mentally referring to it as 'The Ten Year War' and 'The Remnant Conflict.'

There _._ Weiss stares at the offending spot in her essay. She checks her memory banks and finds that the battle she is referencing never happened. Weiss crosses out the paragraph with vitriol (war balloons? the Atlesian military has never employed those before) but presses her pen in the page too hard and manages to rip a line through the paper. She calmly sets the pen aside before she can do something foolish _(light it on fire)_ and decides she's done with her assignments for the day. She decides to congratulate herself on her _impeccable_ and _perfect_ self-control.

With nothing else left to do, Weiss waits for her teammates' daily visit. Time passes by her excruciatingly slowly. Multiple times, Weiss checks the clock on the wall and tries not to be anxious. Based on the average time they've visited her in the past few days, her teammates are running late. They're at least an hour later than usual, she sees when she checks again, and Weiss is abruptly angry. Agni _dammit_ , that clock is fucking infuriating. Incessant tick-tocking day in and day out, night in and night out. Shouldn't Beacon have fully transitioned to digital clocks by now? Why does she have to suffer through this indignity? Weiss wishes she could just smash the damn thing.

Well, why not? What's stopping her?

_(Alright, hair. It's time to face your doom.)_

A quick flick of Weiss's wrist and a glyph sends the clock tumbling to the floor with a crash. The nurse hurries over to see what's happened.

"It just fell off the wall," Weiss says, with a well-practiced innocent look. "I don't know how it happened either. Maybe it's a ghost?"

The nurse purses her lips but doesn't comment further. She begins to tidy up the small mess while Weiss watches with an unexpected bubble of vindictive pleasure. Making the nurse squirm is surprisingly _fun_ , especially since the woman probably still thinks she's getting away with poisoning Weiss. But Weiss knows better. She hides her grin.

Another hour later, just as the blessed silence is starting to grate on Weiss's nerves, someone finally comes to visit.

"You're late," Weiss says. "Where's Ruby and Yang?"

"Professor Peach gave them detention because they were talking too much in class," Blake sighs. "And I lost track of time in the library. Sorry."

"Hm," Weiss says. She doesn't like Blake's explanation, but it's acceptable. She's here, at least. She's not _gone_. "You're forgiven."

Blake passes over a book from the library that she says she thought Weiss might like. She fills Weiss in on what she's been missing from her classes and even some of the gossip floating around the school. It's all good and well, if incredibly annoying and boring. Weiss says as much.

"What's really boring and annoying?"

"Being stuck here," Weiss says. "They only let me out for a couple hours at a time under careful supervision. I don't know what the big idea is, it's just a _concussion._ When Jaune got a concussion they sent him on his merry way the very next day."

What a rhymer she is. She should be a poet. She was always the best in all of her classes. Blake, in the face of her words, hesitates. Weiss narrows her eyes at her teammate, trying to suss out hints of what's running through Blake's head. Is Blake trying to force Weiss to stay here in the infirmary? Is she hiding something from Weiss? Does Blake not think she's as good with words as she actually is? _Is Blake planning on betraying-_

_(I just don't understand why? Why would you do this? You know the consequences.)_

"You haven't healed yet," Blake says.

"Which clearly shows you how much being trapped here is helping me," Weiss says.

"I'll talk to the medical staff," Blake sighs.

Weiss's fingers twitch. That might be a problem because said medical staff is out to get her. But Weiss makes herself content with Blake's promise. Blake is not planning on betraying her. If she can't trust Blake, her teammate, to get her out of this, then who can she trust?

_(No one.)_

"I've been looking into your condition," Blake says.

Weiss leans forward, trying not to appear too eager. "Have you found anything?"

"There were some interesting anecdotes about people seeing the spirits and ghosts of loved ones," Blake says. "But most of them were chalked up to hallucinations caused by the effects of various Grimm."

"I'm not being affected by a Grimm, Blake," Weiss frowns. "Nor am I hallucinating. I would know if I was."

"It wouldn't hurt to keep an open mind about the different possibilities," Blake says, cautiously. "Ruby and Yang are the ones doing research about 'the girl' you talked about. How… How is she, by the way? Have you remembered anything else about her life?"

"I'm fine," Weiss says. Clamps down on her right hand which has started to twitch. "She's fine. I don't remember how the death happened, if that's what you're asking."

"I'm kind of curious," Blake says. "So what exactly does she do? Does she talk to you? Can you see her physically? Or is she just a floating voice in your head?"

"It's like me thinking and remembering and talking to myself," Weiss says. "But if the me was actually someone else."

"Oh."

"You can tell Ruby and Yang not to waste their time on looking into the girl anymore," Weiss says. "I don't think they're going to find anything about her. There wouldn't be any records because she doesn't— didn't— live here."

"Here, as in Vale or Atlas?"

"As in Remnant."

A long, significant pause. "...Oh. Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"I don't know, for some reason I didn't think it was that important," Weiss says. Then, she says, "Because I thought you might think I'm more crazy than I already am."

"You're not crazy," Blake says.

Weiss sneers on instinct. "Of course I'm not crazy." Blake's words, nevertheless, are a measure of reassurance.

_(I'm not crazy.)_

_(Are you real or not? I don't want to waste my breath entertaining you again, Zuzu.)_

_(Are you real?)_

_(Are you real?)_

"Right," Blake says, not meeting Weiss's eyes.

Weiss knows there's something wrong with her, and she's losing her mind, and she's not okay. But that doesn't mean she's crazy.

_(I'm real.)_

↓

They do let her out of the infirmary the next day after removing the stitches from her forehead wound. Weiss gleefully tells the doubtful voice in her head to go ahead and shove it and tries not to feel too smug as she scraps the emergency escape plans she had prepared just in case. It was obvious to her that Blake would pull through. Weiss had full faith in her teammate from the very beginning.

It feels good to be free again, to step into the open sunlight without any restrictions. No cuffs, no straightjackets, no guards tensing at her every step. Even her everpresent headache seems to ease up.

It's that, or Weiss is simply growing desensitized.

"I love the sun," Weiss sighs, happily.

_(That's such a firebender thing to say, Princess.)_

"Okay, now that was a bit creepy," Ruby jokes. "I don't think I've ever seen you smile this wide for anything."

"Shut it, you dolt. Don't ruin my good mood."

After getting back to the RWBY dorm room, Weiss goes to take a nice, long shower. She hums as she stands under the hot running water, stretching her limbs. She feels like herself again— the real her. Maybe she should sing a song to mark the occasion, never mind that song repertoire was mostly a melancholic mess.

When Weiss steps out of the shower, wrapping herself in a towel, she braces herself for her reflection over the sink. It turns out that she didn't need to have. The white-haired girl who stares across from her in the mirror looks fine. Maybe she's a little pale and too thin from not eating properly, but she's still relatively healthy-looking. The scarred eyelid and cheek is a familiar and reassuring sight as well. Carefully, Weiss grazes a thumb over the slowly but surely healing wound on the girl's forehead. The wound is a mark of embarrassing defeat, of shame and humiliation.

Something prods at her. Should she…? She's alone, it can't hurt, can it? Weiss clears her throat and the words come to her easy then. "Yes! We've defeated you for all time!" she declares. "You will never rise from the ashes of your shame and humiliation!"

Her words hang in the air. Her eyes turn gold.

That's… not her imagination.

Weiss blinks. She leans in to study her eyes as they turn back into their normal color, a cool and icy blue. Instead of feeling unnerved, as she expected she would feel, she feels strangely amused. Of course, even a couple of throwaway sentences as stupid as those ones would end up being salient.

_(Ah, that was fun.)_

"Beach volleyball," Weiss snorts in recognition. "I think I remember dreaming about that when I was fourteen. That was before the breakdown, the last time things were still good, wasn't it? Ember Island?"

Weiss dries her hair. After she's done dressing herself, she looks at her reflection in the mirror once again, contemplatively. She can feel the strings of words bubbling in her throat, practically begging her to cut them loose. Weiss lets them simmer for a while. Then she shrugs. Might as well.

"That's a sharp outfit, Weiss," she says. She adjusts the collar of her bolero jacket before posing, watching her mouth turn cocky with the thin slash of a half-smile. "Careful, you could puncture the hull of an Empire Class Fire Nation battleship, leaving thousands to drown at sea… because it's so sharp."

_(You can laugh. It's funny.)_

Weiss holds her reflection's gaze for a solid five seconds before snorting again. She does want to laugh but this time, it doesn't feel like it's something forced or out of her control. Her breathing is regular and normal. Her heart isn't trying to jackhammer itself out of her chest.

"There, I did what you want me to," Weiss says, out loud. She's not sure who she's talking to. Herself? Her smile broadens, becomes something unreserved and open. "There. Are you happy with me now?"

A low hum of warmth threads its way through her diaphragm in response. That was a real response, Weiss starts, genuinely surprised. Then she licks her lips, suddenly nervous. She takes a breath and says, in a blind leap of faith, "Are you ready to move on now?"

For a moment, nothing. Then:

_(My own mother thought I was a monster… she was right of course but it still hurt.)_

Her head instantly clamps together like it's in the vicegrip of a machine. Weiss panics. "Wait! Don't—"

The mirror in front of Weiss dissolves in a smear of silver then reconstitutes itself into a different one. She's standing in front of a large vanity desk, smiling broadly at her reflection. But the dark-haired girl who stares across from her in the mirror does not look fine. Her gold eyes are stretched wide with unfamiliar madness. Her red lipstick is smeared at the edges. The hair that frames her face is wild and ragged.

" _What a shame. You always had such beautiful hair."_

It's startling how fast the dark-haired girl's smile descends into a contemptuous sneer upon hearing the voice which interrupts her. Behind the reflection of the dark-haired girl in the mirror appears the image of a tall, royal woman, dressed in red robes.

No. Go away. Go away. Don't ruin this.

I'm about to become _Fire Lord._ This is everything I wanted. You can't convince me otherwise.

It's too late for you. You already _left_ me, forever. You don't love me.

But the woman doesn't leave. Instead, she pushes with more words, prods, spreading a burning wake of anguish and pain _._ Fists trembling, mouth twitching uncontrollably, the tipping point looms imminently.

"Even you fear me!"

" _No,"_ the woman says. Her voice is heartbreakingly sad. " _I love you, _zu__. I do."_

Weiss screams. The mirror shatters and the vanity turns into a normal bathroom counter as the reflection of the dark-haired girl screaming across from her breaks into a thousand silvery pieces of a white-haired girl screaming screaming _sobbing_ tears running away from her take me away from this feeling away from me take me away to a place where I can never be found I can't do this I can't I can't I _can't_.

_(Am I dead?)_

When she's all screamed and sobbed out, Weiss picks glass from her knuckles and wishes she had had enough of a mind to throw a hairbrush through the mirror like it had originally happened instead of using her fist. Third time's the charm, Weiss thinks, a bit detachedly, and she silently resolves to avoid having her breakdowns in bathrooms again in the future.

Maybe she is crazy.


	5. Chapter 5

Ruby’s upset, but the thing is, she doesn’t think Weiss understands why.

She’s not upset because Weiss hurt her feelings. Well, she is, a little bit. But much more than that, she’s upset because Weiss is acting weird and she refuses to talk about how she’s acting weird.

_I don’t want you to apologize. I want you to tell me what’s wrong, without me having to chase after you. Aren’t we supposed to be partners?_

“Thanks, Ruby,” Weiss mutters. They’re both sitting on Weiss’s bed. Ruby is bandaging Weiss’s hand, wrapping gauze around the bloody knuckles. “I would’ve hated to be sent back to that horror show so soon.”

“It’s no problem,” Ruby says, mechanically. “Um, horror show?”

“I don’t like the infirmary very much,” Weiss says, delicately. “Being cooped up there these past few days hasn’t been very good for me, I’m afraid.”

Ruby waits. When no words are forthcoming, she says, “So, uh, how did this happen?”

Weiss shrugs, an almost imperceptible raise of her shoulders. “I punched the mirror. On accident.”

“On accident?”

“I didn’t mean to punch it.”

 _You think I don’t know that’s what_ on accident _means?_ Ruby bites her tongue. 

“But why,” Ruby says, hating that she has to specify the ‘why’. “Why did you punch the mirror? Did you, did you _slip_ , and _fall_ into the mirror—”

“Ah,” Weiss says, voice growing even quieter. “Well, you know. The girl from my dreams. We were reminiscing together, and we got lost in the memories, a little.”

Right. The girl. _We._

Ruby remembers the way that Weiss had cried in her arms in the infirmary, just from being hugged. She hated to see her partner cry, but at the same time, she was glad, because she thought it meant that Weiss was letting everything out, that she was going to be okay soon. Ruby always feels better after she has a good cry. She doesn’t cry often, but when she does, it’s a cathartic release.

As a person, Ruby’s always been fairly open-minded, fairly trusting, and fairly optimistic, too. She genuinely believes what Weiss told them about her dreams, the girl, about being _haunted,_ even if the story did, altogether, sound a little morbid to her. After all, Ruby has lots of dreams, too, and they also haunt her. Sometimes they’re about Ruby’s mother, sometimes they’re about wolves in the woods, sometimes they’re about a woman with red-black eyes in a far off land, sitting on her throne, Grimm pooling at her feet.

_“She says the girl isn’t real,” Blake’s voice, hushed. “Or, at least, the girl never existed on Remnant.”_

_It takes a moment for Ruby to find her voice. “What have we been looking for this whole time, then?” she says. “That doesn’t make any sense.”_

_“Neither do ghosts,” Yang says grimly._

“Do you, um,” Weiss starts, regaining Ruby’s attention. Weiss looks down at her bandaged fist. “Do you know if anyone heard me screaming?”

“Uh, screaming?” Ruby says, faintly. “No? You were screaming?”

Ruby only stepped out for an hour. Weiss said she was going to take a shower and would like some privacy. It was only an hour. Then Ruby came back, and the bathroom was all bloodied, and the mirror was broken and there was glass everywhere, and Weiss was sitting on her bed with her knees tucked together, like a child about to be scolded, her eyes rimmed red from crying and directed in the direction of the ground but not looking at the ground, looking through it.

“Why didn’t your Aura protect your hand?” Ruby tries to approach the topic from a different angle once it becomes clear Weiss isn’t going to elaborate.

“I don’t know,” Weiss says. 

“You don’t know,” Ruby braves, “or you won’t tell me?”

Wrong thing to say. “I don’t know, alright!” Weiss snaps. Ruby’s partner stands up and runs her hands through her hair like she plans on tearing it out and begins to pace the length of the dorm room. “Everything was going _fine!_ She was _happy!_ Why did I— Why did _she—_ If I knew, you don’t think I wouldn’t have _told_ you, Ruby? You don’t think I trust you?”

 _Do you?_ Ruby doesn’t say. “You don’t have to yell,” she says instead, voice small, and Weiss stops pacing.

“Sorry,” Weiss says.

 _I don’t want you to apologize,_ Ruby doesn’t say. “Can you tell me what you were reminiscing about?” she says instead.

“I’d really rather not talk about it,” Weiss says, flatly.

“But—”

“Ruby,” Weiss says. “I’ve already come clean to you about my dreams and the girl. And I’m glad I did that. But for this, can’t we just drop the subject? I’d really rather not talk about it. It wasn’t a good memory. Is what you want to hear? You want to hear about how awful it was for me?”

And that’s that.

↓

As the days drag on into weeks, Weiss can tell that her teammates are becoming dispirited by the lack of progress she makes regarding her condition. Weiss likes the word that Blake uses to describe it: her _condition._ It’s clinical and clean and says nothing about all the particulars associated with it.

Particulars, such as all the times Weiss calls people by the wrong names. Ruby: Ty Lee. Blake: Mai. Jaune: Zuko. Particulars, like all the fights that Weiss picks with people for tiny little reasons. Looking at her funny, not giving her the proper respect, offending her honor. Particulars, like stepping out into the rain and making about fifty steps before having a freak out because she’s cold and she’s wet and there’s water everywhere and she thinks she’s drowning. Particulars, like the fact that her word vomit and ability to contain her speech isn’t getting any better.

Particulars, like how Weiss sometimes spontaneously loses the ability to comprehend certain technology. She might be flipping through her Scroll and suddenly not know how to use it anymore. She might decide to conduct a late night study session and spend hours looking for candles and lamps only for someone to walk into the room and flick the light switch. There was an especially embarrassing incident involving an elevator that Weiss is determined not to repeat, though it had startled out a great deal of laughter from Yang. Whose amusement Weiss counted as the one positive in a long rap sheet of negatives regarding her _condition_ , because just as her teammates are becoming dispirited by her lack of progress, they are doing worse and worse jobs of concealing how bothered by it they are. And how they’ve all but given up on helping her fix the problem and instead are bent on doing damage control.

“She’s just having a bad day,” Yang, smiling sheepishly after a tongue lashing about filthy peasants she delivers to a confused Nora.

“Weiss Weiss Weiss! Look at the stars! They’re so pretty!” Ruby, trying to pull her away from the spot she stands transfixed and mesmerized by a bonfire.

“Maybe you should talk to someone,” Blake, gently and not so subtly suggesting that she should seek out professional help for the thousandth time.

_(They think you’re crazy, too. They don’t believe you anymore.)_

All things considered, though, for someone who may or may not have lost and be in the process of losing their mind, Weiss thinks she does an excellent job of holding it together. Her academics remain as impeccable as ever. Her combat ability suffers as her Aura continues to be on the fritz, but if Weiss concentrates as hard as she can on evasive maneuvers and judicious placement of strikes, she can get by well enough. The most egregious of her word vomit outbursts she is able to excuse to the lingering effects of concussion. Some rumors go around the school that the Schnee is losing her marbles, but most of them die down after a while, and people move on to other things to talk about it.

What Weiss doesn’t want to do is to admit that she’s all but given up hope on fixing herself, too, after countless trips to the library revealing nothing but irrelevant minutiae, countless attempts to appease her ‘condition’ in private by giving in to the worst of the urges leading only to embarrassment and mortification and a marked loss of pride (and sometimes worse). She develops a habit of running her hand over the scars on her knuckles in moments of absentminded thought, and it bothers her that she doesn’t know if this is her habit or _her_ habit, just as much as it bothers her as more and more the line between Weiss and the unnamed girl, Not-Weiss, blue fire, princess, Zu, whatever she calls her/me/us begins to blur. 

“Do you _not_ want to move on?” she asks aloud, once, not really expecting to receive an answer and not receiving one either.

“You know, you’re a pretty inconsiderate guest,” she says, another time, trying to provoke anger and doing so easily, an irrational rage and wave of self-pity that rises up out of nowhere and burns out just as fast.

“Are we really dead?” she wonders, in a moment of pure existential crisis, lying on the roof of the dorm and contemplating the meaning of the stars.

_(For all her ditziness, Ty Lee was right. They are somewhat charming.)_

“Her name is Ruby, and she’s my partner, and she’s trustworthy,” Weiss complains. “The least you could do is get her name right. You’re already infecting every inch of our day to day life, try not to ruin it as much as you do.”

“She’s a traitor. She betrayed me.”

“It wasn’t her, though.”

“You’ll see how things turn out. She’s poison. You can’t trust her.”

“‘And fear is the only reliable way’. But you can feel my memories, too, can’t you? You can tell that Ty— Ruby, how many times do I have to tell you, _Ruby_ — is a good person.”

“I thought Ty Lee was a good person and looked how that turned out.”

“I really did trust her.”

“We were never under any delusions about being good people. No, it was about fear, we forced her, the Boiling—”

“Everything I did was for the good of the Fire Nation! If she was truly loyal, she should have followed me to the—”

“Really? The good of the Fire Nation? Or was it for your own—”

“What? Don’t be ridiculous. Just because I like Ruby doesn’t mean I have a romantic interest—”

“I _hate_ her.”

“Love will always be a disappointment. Real love, true love— that doesn’t exist.”

“Must you be so dramatic? How did it— ah. Fine. ‘Since you can’t see, I should tell you, I’m rolling my eyes.’”

“That was a pretty good quip, actually.”

“Ugh. Shut up and tell me how you died already.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Weiss talks to herself until the sun comes up. Her headache continues to torment her, and at no point does Weiss feel like things are truly _fine_ in the sense of the word, but it does feel like as time passes that things are becoming more tolerable and less hostile, or at the very least approaching some kind of new status quo. And perhaps she doesn’t feel as angry or incoherent as she did in the beginning. Perhaps she is slowly moving closer to being ready to move on.

But still she dreams of nothing.

_(I am but your loyal subject, Father.)_

and

_(Why won’t you just let me be in peace, Mother?)_

↓

When Team CFVY’s mission is unforeseeably extended, RWBY is put in charge of filling in their roles for planning out the Beacon Dance. 

On one hand, Weiss delights in being given power and control over such an event. She loves organizing things and having them mapped out _exactly_ the way she wants. Life always goes better when it goes how she tells it to go. On the other hand, she can’t help but feel like a dance is a true waste of time. There are so many other things she could be doing, like improving her combat skills, reading up on military strategy, meditating, making plans to conquer the world... She already had a taste of being a normal teenager once, and that had been enough for her. Being normal really wasn’t all that.

Thus, a compromise. She'll help organize the dance, but she won't attend it.

“What! You can’t be serious. Then that’s two Team RWBY members down for the count.”

“Two?” Weiss says.

“Blake says she’s not going, too,” Ruby grumbles. “Now I don’t want to go either. If you and Blake aren’t going then what’s the point?”

“Why isn’t Blake going?” Weiss asks.

Ruby and Yang share a glance. A lesser person might’ve missed this glance, but Weiss was no lesser person, and her observation skills had considerably sharpened in the past weeks.

“She’s stressing herself out about the White Fang,” Yang says. “You know how the three of us went out last weekend? We kind of had a run-in with them and Torchwick and ever since then, Blake’s been putting herself on edge.”

“I see,” Weiss frowns. “And you didn’t think to tell me about any of this beforehand?”

“You seemed like you were really busy dealing with other things at the time,” Yang says, vaguely.

Last weekend, Weiss thinks. What had Weiss been doing last weekend again? Was it the day and night she spent mostly on the rooftop, alone? She touches the scars on her knuckles and doesn’t miss the second glance that Ruby and Yang exchange.

“Anyways, don’t worry Rubes, I’ll talk to Blake. She _will_ be attending the dance,” Yang says, and puffs out her chest confidently. “And you will be, too, Weiss.”

“It’s pointless,” Weiss says.

“Aren’t there any guys you like?”

“My reasoning stands.”

“Don’t you want to get out and have some fun, Ice Queen? Loosen up a bit for a night?”

_(I’m the crown princess, the would-be Fire Lord.)_

“Don’t call me Ice Queen. Just help me pick out a tablecloth,” Weiss sighs. “And I’ll think about attending the dance. ‘Think’ being the keyword.”

After an appropriate amount of arguing with Yang, Weiss excuses herself to go to the bathroom, a place she has been spending increasing amounts of time despite her efforts otherwise. She examines her eyes in the mirror, frowning as they turn gold almost immediately under her scrutiny. She doesn’t think it’s happened in front of anyone else yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

Which wouldn’t be entirely a bad thing, if she’s being honest. Her eyes changing color would at least be some validation, some proof that what’s going on with her _isn’t_ entirely mental. Weiss wants to see her teammates try to explain away this.

“They think I’m fucked up,” Weiss says, softly, then grimaces. No, they don’t. They just don’t fully understand what’s happening to her. They’re her friends and have been nothing but supportive and she trusts them. If they really thought she was fucked up, they would have ratted her out to someone. They would have abandoned her.

Her grip tightens on the sink counter. Her reflection smirks at her and Weiss’s eyes draw to the scar on her forehead, fainter than the one down her eyelid but still prominent. “I told you they aren’t trustworthy. They didn’t tell us about their run-in with the White Fang and Torchwick. They probably planned on never telling us if you hadn’t pressed the question.”

“It’s not like I tell them every single thing about me, either.”

“So?”

“So it’s not a problem. How about the dance?”

“The dance,” Weiss sighs. “Let’s see. A semester ago before you showed up. Would I have wanted to go to a dance then?”

Yes.

No.

Yes.

“I’m going to the dance,” she says, defiantly. “In a _dress_. Not in armor, even that’s too paranoid for you. And I’m wearing white. White, not red. Behave, alright? Don’t act out. I’m Weiss Schnee, and I have myself under control.”

Her eyes turn back to blue.

If anything, Weiss thinks as she surveys the mass of moving teenagers before her with a disdainful eye, it’s nice to see the fruits of her effort culminate into something. She’s sitting in a chair with her back held straight, mentally noting where all the exits in the room are, tuning out the music blaring in the background. Ten feet down from her, Ruby is talking to Headmaster Ozpin. Ruby looks about as disconcerted with this event as she is.

She isn’t sure what she had been expecting. An opportunity to… socialize? But it doesn’t help that everyone she talks to seems put off by her. Like they’re afraid she’s going to do something awful to them. Maybe the rumors hadn’t died down as much as she thought they did.

Ozpin sees Weiss out of the corner of his eye and turns to offer her a tentative smile. Weiss feels chills go through her stomach and forces a smile back. She stands up and goes to the balcony before the man can, Agni forbid, try to talk to her. There’s something about Ozpin which bothers her. Weiss knows his kind of man— the kind who schemes too much. She has a sinking suspicion that he was the one who was ordering the nurses to poison her. Or something like that. In hindsight, that could have also just been the paranoia talking to her. She's been trying to reign it in ever since she became self-aware of it.

On the balcony, the night air is cool and fresh. She leans against the railing, looking into the night sky. One of the things which Weiss has developed a newfound fascination for is Remnant’s broken moon. When she sifts through her memories, she can’t come up with any explanation for why the moon is the way it is. It's one of the great mysteries of this world, she supposes.

She wonders whatever happened to Zhao and what he would say if he could see this view. He was always strangely obsessed with the moon. Oh, well. The man was probably dead.

“Hey there. I haven’t seen you before. What’s your name?”

Weiss feels her mouth twist in an instinctive frown. She turns around to see who’s intruding on her moment— a tall teenager with a shock of electric blue hair, dressed in a suit. He’s handsome, admittedly, and has a charming smile.

 _(Your arms look..._ so _strong.)_

“Weiss Schnee, at your service,” she says, shoving the cringe of the memory down before it can take her over. She smooths over her frown into a neutral-pleasant expression as the blue-haired teenager approaches her. Chan was a joke. “And you are?”

“Neptune Vasilias,” the teenager says. Neptune looks her over once and then his eyes brighten up. “Wait, Weiss Schnee. You’re on Yang’s team, aren’t you? The elusive fourth member?”

“Yes,” Weiss says. The frown comes back. “Elusive?”

“Sun and I hung out with the rest of your team last weekend in town,” Neptune says. “We had a really weird time… Anyways, Yang didn’t mention how pretty you were, Snow Angel.”

"Yes, well, it seems like she hasn't mentioned a lot of things lately."

“Red was a bold choice. It suits you.”

“You think so?”

A breeze rifles Weiss’s dress. Weiss sighs at the color of her dress and her own apparent mental weakness. Neptune takes her sigh to mean something different and leans on the railing next to her.

“Not having a good time?” he says, not unkindly, flirtatious overtones disappearing from his voice.

“It turns out I'm not much of a ‘that’ person,” Weiss says, and gestures vaguely at the ballroom behind her.

“Me neither. It’s fun to talk to people, but dancing isn’t really my thing. At least the company isn’t half-bad.”

“Hm,” Weiss says. “Thank you.”

The two of them make small talk for a while before Neptune excuses himself back inside. Weiss finds that talking to Neptune was… nice. It was nice to have a conversation for once that wasn’t loaded with all sorts of tension, with someone who didn’t know her history and her ‘condition’, without having the whispers in her head trying to constantly butt in and make her do unpleasant things. Then, Weiss thinks of Ruby standing at the edge of the dance floor and wonders when was the last time the two of them had a meaningful conversation with each other. She finds she can’t remember.

Weiss hasn’t been much of a good friend lately, has she?

_(But you’re the most beautiful perfect smartest girl in the world!)_

“I know I’m great, but even that’s a little much. I wonder if what made us snap in the first place was your pride getting too big for your brain to handle. You’re making my ego— huh.”

Weiss shakes away the indignation crawling through her body and straightens, squinting off at the buildings in the distance. Is that…? Yes, it is. Someone dressed in all black, running across the rooftops, and not doing a particularly great job at being stealthy given that they are running in full view of her and anyone from the dance who might look in their direction. The logical thing for Weiss to do here would be to talk to a figure of authority— maybe Ironwood, who she saw inside the ballroom— and have them take care of the problem. That would be the logical and Weiss thing to do. The not logical and Not-Weiss thing to do would be to run after the figure and confront them head-on and hash out the rest of the details either. Weiss doesn’t like Ozpin. Weiss also doesn’t particularly like Ironwood, either. It’s not that she doesn’t entirely trust figures of authority— she does trust them a little bit. It’s just that she’s used to being a figure of authority herself and doing everything hands-on, especially when she knows not everyone can be as competent as she is.

“I conquered Ba Sing Se without losing a single life,” Weiss says.

“I feel like I’ve been reminded of this detail about a million times now. Have a pat on the back,” Weiss also says, and rolls her eyes. 

Before Weiss can start to wrestle her way through the gymnastics of an internal debate, however, she sees a familiar red-headed girl take off across the courtyard in the direction the figure disappeared in: one Ruby Rose, team leader extraordinare and definitively not Ty Lee, at her service. As Weiss purses her lips, she feels her body begin to practically radiate with smugness.

“This doesn’t mean you’ve won the argument,” she says and pulls away from the balcony railing.

The Not-Weiss thing it is then.


	6. Chapter 6

Weiss catches up to Ruby in front of the Beacon CCT Tower when Ruby stops to retrieve her weapon from her locker. Good idea, Weiss thinks, and goes to do the same, before realizing she doesn't have her Scroll on her.

"What happened to your supposed competency?" Weiss hisses to herself under her breath, rapping her knuckles against her head. "Just because you sometimes struggle with technology like an elderly person doesn't excuse you from acting like an idiot."

In this specific situation, Weiss knows the fault is actually fully hers, but she finds sometimes it's just convenient to blame her problems on the other party, the rest of herself, her unwelcome guest, whatever. Ruby looks up in surprise as Weiss strides towards her, hands in the process of unfolding her scythe.

"Weiss!" Ruby says. "What are you doing here?"

"Helping you," Weiss responds curtly. "I imagine you saw the same suspicious figure slinking across the rooftops that I did?"

Ruby hesitates, seeing her weaponless. Weiss resists the urge to sigh and says, "I'll stay near the back and only run support if that makes you feel better. Let's go check out the situation already."

They pass by slews of unconscious guards on their way in. Something in Weiss nods approvingly at the technique with which all of the guards have been dismantled: clearly the work of a professional. The burn marks she sees on the floors and walls give her pause, though. If she didn't know better, she would say they were marks left over from firebending. Which is impossible because bending isn't supposed to exist on Remnant. She would know if it was otherwise.

The thought that it might actually be real firebending regardless makes Weiss tingle all over with excitement. If she could figure out how to get her _firebending_ back in this world, she would become an unstoppable force. Maybe she should try to ally herself with the suspicious figure slash criminal to ascertain their secrets…? No, it's too early to say anything definitive about the kind of person they are and whether or not it's actual firebending. She's getting ahead of herself.

Weiss and Ruby reach the elevator and unexpectedly Ruby snickers. She slides Weiss a sideline glance and Weiss flushes in realization.

"I can't believe Yang told you about that!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Ruby says, all too gleefully, and jams the up button.

"I swore her to secrecy," Weiss says in faux anger. "You sisters are incorrigible."

The elevator dings and they step inside. Ruby hits the top floor button without hesitation and the elevator begins its ascent.

Weiss takes a slow, careful breath. Ruby notices. "You okay?" she says.

"Yes," Weiss says. "Well, actually, I'm a bit claustrophobic." After being locked in a padded room for two years of her life, go figure.

Ruby offers her a reassuring smile that just says _I'm here for you._ Unexpectedly touched, Weiss smiles back. She missed having this between her and her partner. The easy push and pull, no strings attached. She missed Ruby.

For once, there are no thoughts about _trust_ and _betrayal_ and _hate._ Just a quiet sort of sadness and longing. And Weiss does feel sad. For herself, but not really for herself.

Their lives were similar, but in the end, Weiss was just that much luckier, too. At fourteen years old, Weiss didn't have the greatest home life, but it wasn't so bad as for her to suffer a complete mental breakdown. And Weiss had always had Winter there for her as well.

_(I don't need your pity, Zuzu.)_

Not pity, Weiss thinks. Let me help you. Us. Me.

They exit the elevator. The top of the CCT Tower is dark save for the sickly green glow of the computer screens lined in row after row. The two of them step out of the elevator cautiously, heels clicking on the tiled floor. After a second, Weiss's eyes adjust to the darkness of the room.

"Hello?" Ruby calls out. "Is anyone there?"

If the suspicious figure is there, Weiss isn't expecting them to respond to Ruby's voice. To her surprise, however, a woman clad in black slowly rises from behind the receptionist counter and turns to face them. Even at a distance, the woman's glowing orange eyes are impossible to miss, as is her cocky smirk. A domino mask covers her face, doing some work to hide her features.

"You know, it's not a masquerade party," Ruby comments, brandishing her scythe. "So why don't you take off that mask—"

The woman forms a line of glowing glass-like shards in the air and shoots them at Ruby, who spins her scythe and deflects them. Ruby starts shooting back at the woman with her rifle while Weiss runs interference with her glyphs, managing to destabilize the woman's stance and turning some of Ruby's bullets the woman tries to block into solid hits.

With a shot of recoil for extra momentum, Ruby lunges forward at the woman scythe-blade first. The woman does a neat backflip into the air and instantly forms a bow with glass arrows, launching the arrows at Ruby. Ruby stumbles backwards in time to dodge and the arrows explode with a burst of heat where they impact the floor.

Not firebending, then, just a Semblance that has to do with glass and heat. Disappointing, but to be expected. Even without her rapier, Weiss and Ruby still make a pretty good team, and the fight continues with both sides on somewhat equal footing. The woman is clearly a highly skilled fighter, fast and fluid movements and attacks all meant to dish a lot of damage, but Weiss's glyphs do a good job of blocking and Ruby's scythe tears through the glass weaponry with ease.

After one of Ruby's attacks gets a little bit too close for comfort, the woman lets out her first noise: a growl of frustration. The woman whips out a sword wreathed in red-orange lightning fast in Ruby's face and Weiss watches in dismay as Ruby stumbles once again, clearly not used to fighting in heels. Crescent Rose parries the sword in time but the angle is awkward and Ruby's weapon goes flying away from her.

Weiss forms a repulsion glyph under Ruby's feet and launches her in the direction of her weapon. A bead of sweat drips down her temple to her jaw and she can feel her Aura burning down fast at the rate at which she's using her Semblance. Unfortunately for her, the woman seemingly senses her faltering and takes this as her cue to turn and start attacking Weiss. So much for staying on support. Weiss is better at fighting in heels than Ruby, but her glyphs lack obvious offensive power. Without Dust and Myrtenaster to augment them, she's basically stuck with evasion and blocking, occasionally trying to trip her opponent.

The sound of bullets firing tells her that Ruby has found Crescent Rose again and is trying to cover her. Weiss is aware that her partner can't do much with her in the way, given Ruby's all-out fighting style with her scythe, and she tries to back away from the woman. But the woman snakes in close, too close, firing off a row of flaming shards that Weiss doesn't think she'll be able to block in time. Weiss instinctively adopts a firebender stance and tries to bend the glass and heat away from her. Of course all that accomplishes is getting her hit full on by the flaming shards and thrown backwards. Her back collides painfully with a wall.

Should've worn armor after all, she groans. "Weiss!" comes Ruby's alarmed shout and her partner materializes next to her in a blur of rose petals. Weiss shakes off Ruby's worried expression and climbs back to her feet— she counts herself lucky that her Aura actually managed to tank the hit for once seeing how utterly unreliable it's been lately. Weiss tenses, expecting the woman to take the opportunity to attack them again, but instead the woman is simply standing there and staring at them. Staring at Weiss, head cocked to the side and glowing orange eyes narrowed in interest.

Not just interest, Weiss realizes. There's _recognition_ in those eyes as woman meets Weiss's gaze head on and holds out her hand in the air, palm face up, and Weiss watches as her palm lights up with a pure, unadulterated flame. Not glass. Not heat. _Fire._

Weiss blinks. The flame in the woman's hand flares, dances. Is the woman trying to tell her something? The tide of hope and hunger that rises up in Weiss's chest is suddenly impossibly acute. Ruby levels her scythe, looking back and forth between the woman and Weiss, expression one of confusion. The fighting has stopped.

Weiss steps in the direction of the woman, mouth running entirely without her consent. "Are you—"

The elevator doors slide open with a loud noise, cutting her off. It's Ironwood, stepping forward, expression hardening as he takes in the sight before him. By the time Weiss turns back to face the woman, she's gone, only a hole burned through the floor indicating where she had escaped.

↓

As the clock strikes midnight, Ironwood grills them on details about the woman. Weiss lets Ruby do most of the talking. On the outside, Weiss lappears dazed and in shock. On the inside, her mind is whirring a thousand miles a minute.

Ironwood's soldiers do a sweep of the perimeter but find no signs of the woman besides the black domino mask, discarded in an innocuous hallway. When Ruby and Weiss eturn to their dorm room, Ruby turns to speak to her then startles.

"Your eyes," Ruby says. "They… They changed color."

"It's the color of the eyes of the girl who's haunting me. It's temporary. Probably."

"She's still there?" Ruby says. She sounds discomforted.

"Of course she's still here. She's practically a part of me."

"I thought maybe that—"

"What? Just because you don't see me struggling as much with it as I used to doesn't mean I still don't have my condition _._ It won't just go away if I wish hard enough. Believe me, I've tried."

Ruby looks at the floor. Weiss should apologize. That was out of line. She's just so distracted— she can practically feel her carefully cultivated veneer of control over the past few weeks slipping away, like an illusion. Her fingers are twitching and she doesn't know where she wants to place her hands or feet or the rest of herself. She wants... She wants to bend.

She wants to firebend.

"Sorry," it's Ruby who says that. Her voice is distant. "I didn't mean to offend you or anything like that, Weiss. I'm _trying_ to understand what you're going through but it seems like you won't let me. Just like we've been trying to help you get better, but you just... you just keep shutting us down."

"It's not like that."

"It's not?"

Ruby changes into her pajamas and disappears into the bathroom. Damn it. Weiss clenches her fists. Things had been going so well between them, too. And she just had to go and screw things up like that. Why is Ruby so upset?"

_(More important things to worry about, the Day of the Black Sun—)_

"It's just a little fire," Weiss mutters to herself, unconvincingly. For the first time in a while, she goes through the routine of Inhale, Exhale, Shudder. She tries to focus herself, but she can't turn herself away from the word: fire, fire, _fire_. "It's just fire. It's not that important."

Since when has she become a liar to herself? she thinks. Another routine of Inhale, Exhale, Shudder later and her head is starting to pound.

"What's just fire?" Blake and Yang, returned from the dance, giving her a curious look. "Why did you and Ruby leave the dance early?" Then, Blake does a double take.

"Your eyes," it's Blake's turn to say in shock. "What…?"

Weiss doesn't answer. She needs to do something, _anything_ , before she explodes. She goes to her dresser and changes out of her dress for more practical clothing, a hoodie and a pair of leggings, sneakers. She redoes her hair into a simple ponytail.

"Wait, are you seriously heading out right now?" Yang asks.

"I'm not going to be able to sleep anytime soon," she says. She heads for the door, then doubles back to grab her Scroll from its spot on the night desk. Ruby has come out of the bathroom by then and walks past her without looking at her or saying anything, disappearing into the top bunk.

Weiss opens her mouth then closes it. Maybe they just need some space from one another. Yeah. Space. She needs to go. Weiss turns around and walks out the room. She isn't in the mood to explain everything. Even if she tried to, she's not sure she can do it in a way that makes sense. It would be pointless. Her teammates have made it clear that they don't really _get_ it. They'll probably never get it.

She heads up to the roof and runs through katas until dawn. The flow of chi inside her feels weaks, flickering, but it's there. It exists. It can't be her imagination. Right? Because she can _feel_ it. Still, no matter how hard she pushes herself, there are no sparks, no fire that come to her. Her muscles ache and she's sore all over and she pushes and pushes and at one point her Aura breaks from exertion but there is nothing.

_(Do it again. Again! Your form is imperfect. I expect more from a daughter of mine.)_

_(It's not good enough. I'm not good enough.)_

Afterwards, she sits at the edge of the roof, legs dangling in the open air, watching the sun slowly creep its way up the sky.

"I don't want to talk," Weiss mumbles. "Not to you, either."

The image of fire, of the woman with the orange eyes, is burned into her mind. The early morning air is cold, and her breath comes out in puffs of white steam.


	7. Chapter 7

During midmorning of the same day, a couple hours after Weiss finishes her impromptu practice session, Ozpin invites Ruby and Weiss to his office for another recount of the events at the CCT Tower. The trip there together is decidedly awkward, especially since Weiss is too tired from staying up the night to make even a token effort to talk to Ruby and clear the uncomfortable air.

Once again, Weiss lets Ruby take charge of describing what happened. Ozpin hums and nods and doesn't react until the very end of the recount, when Ruby describes what the woman did with her hand.

"Are you sure that's what you saw?" he says. "She lit up her hand with a flame?"

"Yes," Ruby says. "I… I remember thinking it was very strange, because up until then the woman had been fighting against us with only glass. And if she could control fire the whole time, why would she hold back? I thought she was going to keep attacking us once she started controlling the fire, but instead she just stood there and stared at us. And then, uh…" Ruby trails off. Weiss catches the flitting glance in her direction. "And then—"

_Weiss steps in the direction of the woman, mouth running entirely without her consent. "Are you—"_

"And then General Ironwood came out of the elevator," Weiss takes over smoothly, ignoring Ruby's second flitting glance in her direction. "And while Ruby and I were distracted by his entrance, the unknown woman made her escape. It looked like she melted a hole straight through the floor."

"I see," Ozpin says. "This might be a bigger problem than I anticipated."

The headmaster says nothing for a while, seemingly lost in thought, fingers steepled on his desk in front of him.

"Professor?" Ruby eventually ventures, hands fiddling behind her back. "I was wondering… Do you think the woman is connected somehow to Torchwick and the White Fang?"

"...It's possible," Ozpin says. "But there's not enough evidence to say for certain yet."

"Huh. Well, actually, um, now that I _really_ think about it," Ruby says, elongating her words after a momentary pause, "I think I remember the woman saying something about a hideout in the southeast quadrant—"

"Miss Rose," Ozpin says, voice unusually stern. "I know what you are trying to do, and I admire your attitude and commitment to doing the right thing. But if this woman really is connected to the Torchwick and the White Fang, and she did what you say she did, I cannot in good conscience allow your team to engage with her any further."

Ruby deflates. "But—"

"I am sorry," Ozpin says. "But first and foremost, you are the students of my academy, and your safety is my top priority. I will talk to General Ironwood and we will put together a professional group of Huntsman to look into this matter. But you will leave it alone moving onward. Do you understand?"

"...Yes, sir," Ruby says.

Ozpin's expression softens at Ruby's downcast look. "That's not to say you and your partner didn't do a very brave thing last night," he says, gently. "You both should be proud of yourselves. Now, I don't want to keep you two here for longer than necessary. Before I let you go, however, I want to let you know that I am willing to grant your team an extension for your first field mission with shadowing a Huntsman, should you feel such a thing is necessary."

"An extension?" Ruby asks.

"For you and Miss Schnee to recuperate," Ozpin explains. Weiss stiffens. "Both of you must be exhausted after last night's incident. If you choose to accept the extension, I will find an appropriate mission and assign it to Team RWBY for the week after this one."

"I don't feel tired at all, though," Ruby says. "My Aura's almost completely full. Is it alright if we turn down— oh."

Ruby looks at Weiss then: a full look directed straight at Weiss, no flitting about with the eyes, no hesitation. Weiss avoids Ruby's look, uncomfortable with the sudden undisguised worry in Ruby's expression. Isn't Ruby supposed to be angry at her? Why would she be suddenly concerned with how Weiss is doing?

Because she's our teammate and friend and just because we are having a disagreement doesn't mean she just stops caring about us, Weiss tells herself disbelievingly. Just like how when it comes down to it, _I_ haven't stopped caring about her either.

But—

Haven't you had friends before?

They betrayed us!

It's tiring to hold onto a grudge for so long.

I don't like this man. He seems to me the kind who hides in the shadows and schemes—

And I don't know why you don't like him. Ozpin hasn't done anything wrong, he's the headmaster of Beacon, and Ruby trusts him.

Ozpin is watching her.

"I'm not doing the best right now," Weiss admits. "I could use a day or two of rest."

And she is, truthfully, tired. Bone-deep tired, exhausted from head to toe. She can still feel the want of firebending like a needling thorn buried in her side, a fundamental part of who she is— but now, with some time removed from last night's event, she finds she doesn't have the energy to be stubborn, to be argumentative, to be paranoid. Her mind is, paradoxically, more stable, more clear.

It's easy for Weiss to tell that Ozpin is hiding information and knows more about the situation than he's letting on. Why is the fact that the mystery woman is a potential firebender a 'bigger problem than anticipated'? Why does that preclude Team RWBY getting involved with her and Torchwick and the White Fang when it didn't before? But Weiss doesn't feel like it's the right moment to begin pressing him for answers.

_(Some other time.)_

"We'll take the extension," Ruby says.

They trudge out of Ozpin's office, quiet. Weiss thinks about asking about the 'hideout in the southeast quadrant' and where Ruby came up with that lie. She knows she could get angry over the fact that Ruby is hiding something from her just like Ozpin. She knows she can be angry and hateful and cruel.

"Ruby," Weiss begins, preparing to make the token effort. "I—"

"You don't have to apologize," Ruby says. She's kicking her shoes heavily as she walks, probably leaving scuff marks on the hallway. "No, I don't want you to apologize. The hideout in the southeast quadrant thing— it's something Blake and Sun found out about the White Fang during the weekend we went out."

"...I wasn't going to apologize," Weiss says, a little put out. "I was just going to say thank you."

"You're welcome, then," Ruby says. Her voice is terse and unwelcoming.

"Ruby," Weiss begins again. "Do… Do you still believe me? About what I told you and Yang and Blake back in the infirmary?"

"I think you think you told what you thought was the truth then," Ruby says, a mouthful of a sentence. "But I think you didn't tell us everything. And I think you're hiding how much you're hurting, even now. It's okay not to be okay— I still just want to help you get better. But I don't know how or where to even begin if you don't let me. These past few weeks, they've been so frustrating."

I didn't know that. I thought you had just… given up on me. "I'm…" Weiss's tongue twists up. "I'm not hurting."

"Fine. The girl, then," Ruby says, spinning around to face her head on. Her silver eyes are blazing with determination. "Tell her I want to help her, too, and tell her to stop making you hide away."

"She doesn't want help."

_(I don't need help.)_

"Then tell her she's going to get it anyways, because Weiss Schnee is _my_ partner, and things can't keep going on like this. Were you even going to tell me your Aura's gone again? How many times has it happened by now?"

"You're angry at me."

"Angry because you won't talk to me about what's wrong," Ruby says.

Weiss tastes indignation on her tongue, and rage, and surprise. Such _insolence._ How dare this girl, Not-Ty Lee, make such assumptions like that? How dare this girl _presume_ to know anything? She is a princess and she is above her. But underneath all of it is that familiar undertone of sorrow, the same one in the elevator, a muddy of loneliness— feelings that can't be hidden when Weiss is also the one who feels them. Weiss's own emotions on this matter are easy, for once, to separate and tangle out. She takes the reins.

"You really do matter to me," Weiss says. "I'm sorry if I made you feel otherwise. I'll try to be better going forward."

Ruby maintains her sharp expression for a few more seconds then it drops. "I told you not to apologize," she says, shaking her head. "Are we going to have to go through a 'listen to your leader' talk again?"

"So you forgive me, then?"

"We'll see about that, young lady," Ruby huffs, turning her chin up in the air, her tone a facsimile of Ozpin's earlier. But she flashes Weiss a small, almost childlike smile, too, and Weiss feels glad.

Suddenly she is seven years old again and strolling imperiously through the Royal Palace. There are two girls behind her, one with her hair in a long braid _ooh_ ing and _aah_ ing at everything she sees, the other with raven black hair with a quiet look of disinterest. They exit into a courtyard and reach the pond with the turtleducks.

She reaches for a rock because she wants to show her friends how amusing it is when she throws it in and makes all the dumb little creatures scatter. But the girl with her hair in a long braid tugs at her sleeve, stopping her.

" _Let her do what she wants, Ty Lee,"_ the disinterested girl says.

" _But that's so mean! Look at how cute they are!"_

She hesitates, then. On one hand, since when has something being 'mean' ever stopped her? On the other hand, the girl with the long braid has her bottom lip stuck in a pout. At this point in time, she is cruel, but she is not heartless. If they won't find it amusing, then fine, whatever. She tosses the rock aside.

They would have come back after I threw the rock, she thinks about telling the girl. Here, look, I brought bread. Want to see how I normally feed them? She aims for one of the little turtleducks at the edge of the pond to throw the loaf of bread at it, but the girl's hand is still on her sleeve, stopping her. This too? _Fine._ She settles down, exasperated. I'll do it some other time. The afternoon is quiet and peaceful.

When Weiss comes to, she is in the middle of the hallway, just standing there. She looks down and sees that her stance is remarkably steady. She checks herself over— no injuries to speak of. She doesn't think she's said anything out loud either.

"You okay?" Ruby says, besides her, face the same shade of worry as it had been in Ozpin's office. "You've been spacing out for a while."

"I had a memory," Weiss says. She blinks and rubs the scars on her knuckles. Her headache is a faint, dull throb. "But it was a good one. I think she's… well, not happy. But doing better. We're doing better."

"That's a good thing then, right?" Ruby says.

"Yeah," Weiss says, thoughtfully. "Yeah, I think so."

↓

"You fought Torchwick in a giant robot?" Weiss says, raising an eyebrow.

"More like got our butts whooped by Torchwick in a giant robot," Yang says. "I thought we could take him, but uh, evidently we couldn't. He escaped pretty easily."

"I can't believe you didn't tell me any of this before," Weiss frowns.

"Well," Blake says, having the decency to sound a little bit guilty. "You didn't seem to be much in the mood to talk last weekend, and after that we didn't want to stress you out considering everything you've been dealing with."

"It's fine. You don't have to sugarcoat it, M— Blake," Weiss sighs. She still can't remember exactly what she did during that oft-referenced last weekend, but she's fairly certain she had another mental breakdown. Rooftop day and night and something… something about her father? Practicing? "I've been difficult to deal with lately, haven't I?"

"A bit," Yang says. "How goes the, uh, you know?"

"Better," Weiss says. "Ruby and I have started looking into my 'condition' again. We've been taking down some notes and things like that as well. What I can remember about the girl's world, interesting tidbits I— the girl— says or thinks about. More things about spirits, ghosts."

"Notes about ghosts," Yang repeats.

"I know you two have some trouble believing what I told you," Weiss says. At their expressions, she continues, "Ruby told me as much. It's okay, really. I actually wanted to say thank you so far for not— not calling me crazy, and trying to keep things discrete like I asked, and still being my friend."

"Huh," Yang says, after a moment. She smiles. "Maybe your 'condition' isn't such a bad thing after all. You seem nicer than you used to be."

Weiss scowls. "Hey! I was always nice."

"I'm just teasing you. You're so easy to get riled up. And no, you were not always nice."

"You were selectively nice," Blake inputs.

There's a moment of companionable silence. All the other first years are off on their missions, and it feels strange to see the section of the cafeteria where they normally sit empty. Weiss isn't hungry, but she makes herself eat anyways. She thinks her appetite would be better if Beacon had more options. Something like Mistrali food would be nice. It's the closest thing to Fire Nation cuisine that exists on Remnant.

A sudden wave of homesickness hits her then, which Weiss swallows down with a bite of cold lettuce. It's pointless to feel homesick. She doesn't have a home in the Fire Nation anymore anyways. Zuko made it about as clear as he could when he had her sent to the asylum. If it were her on the throne and him in her position, though, she would have probably had him killed.

 _(Aw, Zuzu. You've always been so soft-hearted and weak._ _Not even going to say goodbye to me?_ )

 _Merciful_ is more like it, Weiss frowns, and the voice falls silent.

"How's your Aura?" Yang asks.

"Somewhat recovered," Weiss says. "I'll definitely be ready for the mission next week."

"You up for team practice this afternoon? I'm pretty sure Ruby's devising up something _creative_ as we speak."

"Wonderful," Weiss says, dryly. "That'll be a treat."

As they leave the cafeteria, someone bumps into Weiss heavily at the doorway, hard enough to knock her to the floor. It's a girl with mint-green hair and dark red eyes.

"I am _so_ sorry," the girl says. "Are you alright?"

"Are you blind? Watch your step," Weiss snaps. "You are in the presence of—"

Not royalty. Weiss breaks herself off, rescinds the thought about provoking a fight, and says in a reasonable tone that's admittedly difficult to muster even for Weiss Schnee: "Never mind. It was just an accident. It was my fault, too."

The green-haired girl holds out a hand and says, "Sorry again."

Weiss takes the girl's proffered hand and lets her pull to her feet. She sees the girl's eyes land on her face then scarred knuckles but thankfully, the girl doesn't make a comment, just continues on her way into the cafeteria with her companion, a tall silver-haired boy. Weiss continues on her own way with Blake and Yang in the direction of the class halls. Though all the other first years are gone, Team RWBY still has classes to attend to make up for the classtime they'll be missing next week. Afternoon practice with Ruby is tough but rewarding, and Weiss is careful not to push herself too hard.

As Weiss prepares to settle in for the night, she wonders if she'll ever have any of those dreams again. If the voice and the memories, the other her not-her, is going to be a permanent feature of her day to day life moving forward. In the beginning it had been bad. But now, it was better. Weiss tries to imagine her whole life stretched out before her the way it is now. Her as a Huntress, her as the head of the SDC, her growing old, her, her, and the voice, a constant companion.

_(...)_

"Nothing to say to that?" Weiss whispers. "You really don't want to move on, do you? What am I missing?"

Above Weiss, Ruby's breath in her sleep is a soft, steady rhythm. Across the room, Yang is snoring quietly, and Blake makes no sound. Weiss shifts onto her side to get into a more comfortable position and as she does, she feels something hard under her pillow. She sits up and reaches for the object. What could be…?

In the darkness of the room, it takes a moment for her to recognize it. She traces the edges of it in muted shock. Black glass, cast in the shape of the Fire Nation's national emblem. She turns it over in her hands and there, taped to the back, is a handwritten note with a date, time, and address.

 _Come alone,_ it says.


	8. Chapter 8

A big part of Weiss considered not telling her teammates about the note. Another part pointed out that she promised Ruby she would try to be better about sharing things moving forward. That latter part, after some private teeth grinding and shouting at herself, won out.

"We're coming with you," Ruby says, immediately.

"The note says 'Come alone'," Weiss says.

"So? Since when do we have to follow the baddies' rules?" Yang says.

"I think what Weiss is trying to point out is that we might spook this person if all of us show up," Blake says.

"She's certainly observant," Weiss says. "While we were fighting, she could tell something was unusual about me just from a couple of movements I made."

Weiss turns the glass emblem in her palm as she talks. It's a way to tell herself to calm the fuck down. She has the jitters like she did the night of the confrontation at the CCT Tower, but it's less severe this time, and at least she has no desire to run to the rooftop and start exhausting herself by trying to make herself bend when she can't bend. Progress, she thinks.

"We could follow you secretly."

"Which is automatically a bad idea for you and Ruby. You two don't do discrete very well."

"Do you think she's a student at Beacon?" Ruby asks. "How did she know this was your room?"

There's silence as all four of them mull the possibility over. It's something that Weiss hasn't considered, but it does make some amount of sense. If the woman was a student (or someone posing at a student), it explains how she could've escaped that night of the confrontation. With the Beacon Dance going on, she could've quickly changed and then blended right in with the crowd at the party.

"I just think it's kind of weird that she was in here at all," Yang says. "That kind of gives me the creeps. Like, couldn't she have figured out some other way to get the note to you? Was she watching us sleep?"

"We'll talk to the headmaster about this afterwards. And start locking the dorm room doors, I guess."

"Even though he told us to stay out of it?"

"He told us to stay out of the southeast quadrant. This isn't the southeast quadrant."

"Anyways," Blake says. "I'm with Weiss on this one. I think she should go alone. If this woman really is related to Torchwick and the White Fang, this is too big of an opportunity for us to squander."

"It could be dangerous," Ruby frowns.

"I searched it up. The Twin Dragon is a high profile restaurant in downtown Vale," Weiss says. Despite being turned over in her palm multiple times now, the glass emblem remained cool to the touch. It really was fine craftsmanship. "I hardly think I'm about to get assassinated in a place like that."

"It could be a front for the mob," Yang suggests.

"Still, in broad daylight?" Weiss says, skeptically. "Unless she actually means for me to meet her there at two in the morning… in which case she's really stupid. And I don't think there has been enough evidence to show that this woman is really stupid."

"Not stupid until proven otherwise," Yang muses. "I like that philosophy."

(Assuming competency and overestimating your opponent is always a sound strategy.)

Ruby's frown deepens. "Why does she want to meet you at all?" Ruby asks. "I just don't get it."

"I think we're going to be talking about fire," Weiss says, and she grimaces.

↓

In the end, they compromise and decide to have Ruby stay in the cafe located across the street from the restaurant while Blake and Yang hang out at a bookstore a block down. Weiss was to call for help at the first sign of trouble and not to try to be a big damn hero and take down the woman by herself— not without backup, at least.

At one-thirty give or take a few minutes, Ruby and Weiss arrive at the cafe opposite the restaurant and proceed to make poor small talk while trying to keep an eye on up front to see if anyone fitting the woman's profile showed up. At precisely one fifty-seven, Weiss stands up from their table, gives a nod at Ruby's somewhat anxious wish of good luck, and heads across the street.

She's dressed in her usual attire. She can feel the restaurant attendant's gaze draw to the rapier hanging at her hip, but he doesn't make a comment about it.

"Do you have a reservation, ma'am?"

"I'm meeting someone here," Weiss says. "My name is Weiss Schnee."

She really has no idea what she's supposed to do if the attendant turns her away. Just scan the restaurant until she sees someone fitting the profile and point at her in an aha! moment? Thankfully, the attendant's eyes light up.

"Right this way, ma'am," the attendant says.

The Twin Dragon is classy without being over the top like some of the fine dining establishments Weiss's family frequented in Atlas. The decor is in warm, earthy colors— mostly greens and browns. Weiss gives a little sigh as she is led away from the front of the restaurant and visibility of the street and to a more private area in the back. Maybe she will be assassinated here after all. She can imagine the headlines already.

Consolation: it would be a headache for her father to deal with. Weiss has been steadfastly ignoring his phone calls lately. She knows she'll have to confront him sooner or later, but better later than sooner, she thinks.

(Coward.)

My father is not a good man, Weiss frowns, but at least he was never going to commit mass genocide.

(Oh, right. I forget that slave labor gives you the moral high ground.)

She's saved from having to come up with a mental retort when the attendant ushers her into a room and closes the door behind her. Two red flags pop up immediately. One: there are two women in the room, one sitting at the round table and one at the chair in the corner. Two: neither of the women resemble the woman she saw at the night of the CCT Tower.

Then, the woman at the table looks up at her and Weiss meets her glowing orange eyes. Weiss relaxes marginally and places a hand on her hip.

"I have to come alone, but you get to bring an unwelcome guest?"

"The Schnee heiress in the flesh," the woman says, voice smooth and lilting and exactly the way Weiss thought it would be. "I have to say, a part of me is actually surprised you decided to grace me with your presence."

"Hard to miss your invitation."

"Why don't you have a seat?"

Weiss does so, stiffly. She examines the woman at the table in greater detail. Her features are different than she remembers, and her hair is a slightly different color, more brown than black. The woman in the corner of the room seems totally plain and unremarkable in a way Weiss can't quite place. Too plain, as if someone had tried to make themselves seem as inconspicuous as possible.

"Is it your Semblance that's doing this?" Weiss directs to the woman in the corner of the room. "Some kind of disguise work?"

"You don't have to answer that," the woman at the table says. "You're a little too sharp for your own good, aren't you, Schnee? Or is that cleverness all, hmm, the other you, kicking around in your head?"

"How do you know about that?" Discreetly, Weiss's heartrate begins to speed up. She suspected as much, but to have it actually confirmed out of someone else's mouth…

"I suspected as much," the woman smirks, echoing her thoughts eerily.

The door to the room opens and a server comes in with a couple dishes in hand. He places them on the turntable before bowing, and stepping out. Weiss eyes the plates of dishes warily.

"I took the liberty of ordering for us," the woman says. "It's not the same, of course, but it's the closest thing I've been able to find in this city."

"The closest thing to what?"

"What do you think?"

Weiss doesn't move her hands, which are carefully folded in her lap to hide their twitching, towards the bowl and chopsticks in front of her. The smell of familiar spices reaches her nose, recreating the feeling of homesickness from the cafeteria despite the situation. The woman at the table begins to eat, seemingly totally at ease. The woman in the corner of the room doesn't do anything. So far, she's remained quiet during this interaction and almost entirely still.

"It's not poisoned, you know," the woman at the table says.

"You're a firebender, too," Weiss says. "You're Fire Nation."

"Were," the woman corrects.

"Who are you? Why did you ask me to meet you here?"

"You can call me Ash for now," the woman says, sounding terribly amused as she gives the name. "And as for why I wanted to meet you… I'm simply curious. I'd like to know more about you."

"I don't believe that."

"I know you want to know more about me, too," Ash says. "I can practically see the desperation written in your eyes. Gold is a lovely color."

Weiss growls. Ash's smirk grows wider.

"I'm not in the mood for games," Weiss says.

"You're in no position to make demands, either," Ash says. "All the cards are on my side of the table. We'll play if I say we'll play."

"What were you doing that night at the Beacon CCT Tower?"

"That's not what you're really interested in. Let Ozpin and his ragtag group flop their incompetent way through that mess if they desire to. Ask me what you really want to ask and then I'll consider answering."

Weiss takes a breath and exhales. She has a feeling she is getting in over her head. That she is going to regret this. "I want to be able to firebend again," she says, slowly. "Tell me about how you were able to firebend."

"Firebending, in the true sense of the art, is lost in this world," Ash says. She sets her utensils aside and holds out her palm and lights it up with a flame, making it dance and casting shadows across her face. Weiss hates how she wants to immediately reach for it, cup it in her own hands. "What I have here is an imitation of bending. No less powerful, and a very good imitation, but an imitation nevertheless."

The hunger rises up in Weiss, a hollow yearning. "Tell me how I can do that, then."

"As you are now, you can't," the woman says. She snuffs out the flame. "It's not a power that can simply be developed."

"As I am now," Weiss repeats.

"As you are now," Ash purrs. Her orange eyes bore into Weiss like embers through dark wood. "My turn to ask a question. How long has it been since you started to feel the presence the other you? Please, do answer honestly. I've been nothing but honest with you so far. I think I deserve it."

"...A month and a half, roughly," Weiss says. It's the second time Ash has used the phrasing, the other you, and Weiss is starting to get uncomfortable implications.

"Hm," Ash says, cocking her head. "You seem about as put together as I was at a month and a half."

"As you were?"

"Isn't it obvious? I've dropped plenty of hints, haven't I? I was like you, once," Ash says. "For most of my life, I had dreams of another life in another world. Then one day, the dreams stopped and a little while after that, I discovered I had picked up a new little companion in my head. Tell me that's not what happened to you."

Weiss says nothing for a while, simply taking in the alternating waves of unease and curiosity. Then, she says, "How could you possibly know so much about me?"

"I just told you I was like you, once," Ash says, smoothly, voice bubbling with low humor. "You have two minds in there. Use both of them and put the pieces together."

(Such disrespect!)

"Who is the one making that angry expression now?" Ash laughs. "Is that you, Schnee, or your friend?"

Calm down, Weiss orders herself.

I am calm.

"You said that the fire you have is something which can't be developed," Weiss says. "But it's not your Semblance, either."

"No, it's not," Ash agrees. She waves her hand nonchalantly. "It is something which must be stolen. For instance, if you killed me right now, the power would probably go to you."

Something dangerous in the woman's glowing orange eyes. Weiss hears a noise of surprise in the corner of the room— the other woman. She's baiting you, Weiss thinks, eyes fixated on the face of the woman across the table from her. Even when you and Ruby fought her together, she was basically toying with you the whole time. You can't fight her and win. Still, Weiss can't help but want to lunge at the woman, to draw blood.

"But as you are now, you would be incapable of killing anyone, much less me," Ash says. "Not as if there isn't plenty of bodies on your hands as a Schnee. But you are weak."

"You don't know how I am at all," she says, in a low voice.

Ash pauses as if a thought has just struck her. "I could know you," Ash says, contemplatively. "What's your name?"

(I am the crown princess of the Fire Nation, the rightful Fire Lord. I conquered Ba Sing Se, the crown jewel of the Earth Kingdom, singlehandedly and without losing a single life. I am—)

(I am—)

A moment of hesitation which allows Weiss to wrest control. "She doesn't have a name," Weiss says, and instantly regrets it at the undisguised interest that flashes through the woman's orange eyes.

"Oh?" Ash says. "She? No one doesn't have a name. Perhaps I can jog your memory."

"It's not a matter of remembering," Weiss says, tersely.

"Of course it's a matter of remembering," Ash says. "Not as sharp as I originally thought, I see. Or, ah. Is the Schnee holding you back…?"

"No one is holding anyone back!" Weiss snaps. "I— Fuck!" She holds her head, the sudden earsplitting pain. "Shut up."

"No, I don't think I will. I'm starting to rather enjoy myself now."

"I wasn't talking to you," Weiss hisses. She grimaces.

Get a grip of yourself.

Inhale. Exhale. Shudder.

Get a grip of yourself, Weiss!

Ruby's voice echoes in her ears.

"Why does she want to meet you at all?" Ruby asks. "I just don't get it."

Weiss presses her hand into her temple, trying to relieve the pressure. "You never answered my question. What am I doing here? I don't buy for one second that you were just curious. What was that process you were talking about? Answer my questions."

"I have a proposition for you," Ash says, lightly.

"No."

"You were right. I do have an ulterior motive with inviting you here. Of course I do."

"I don't cut deals with criminals."

"Don't think of me as a criminal. Just think of me as a fellow compatriot who wants to have some fun watching the world burn."

Weiss opens her mouth to deny that she would want to watch anything burn but the words are stuck in her throat and refuse to come out. The woman laughs at the frustrated expression on her face. The door opens then, and a server pokes his head in.

"I think we're done with the food," Ash waves her hand. "Take it away, if you will."

When the server finishes clearing the table and disappears, she also gestures to the woman in the corner of the room. "Leave us, too."

"But—"

"It's alright," Ash says. "Look at her. I doubt the little Schnee here could hurt a fly even if she tried her hardest."

Weiss clenches her jaw and says nothing. A second later, the other woman stands up and nods. "I'll be right outside," she says.

The door closes. Ash stands up and moves from the other side of the table to the chair by Weiss. She leans in, conspiratorially.

"I don't like to repeat myself," the woman murmurs. "I'll say it once again. I have a proposition for you."

Weiss shivers at the proximity. She's close enough that she can count the woman's eyelashes. "And I told you—"

"I'm not only asking you, Schnee," Ash says. "What do you say, firebender without your fire? Wouldn't you like to reclaim it?"

Before Weiss's eyes, the woman's disguise falls away. Her hair turns raven black and her features become finer and vaguely familiar, as if someone Weiss had once seen in a dream. But her burning orange eyes are the same. Burning and hungry. Weiss thinks she can smell smoke, and underneath it something cleaner, like autumn and pine.

Weiss's lips move. "I rather don't like you. But I am not an unreasonable person, and I'll listen to what you have to say before I make a judgment."

"Excellent," the woman with the orange eyes says. She pulls back, smiling. "I think you will find this arrangement to be mutually beneficial for the both of us."


	9. Chapter 9

" _Give me one reason not to tell the headmaster all of what you've told me as soon as I leave."_

" _Because if you tell him, then you will never be able to get your bending back," the woman says, voice a dark mixture of confidence and cold and mocking. "Because Ozpin covets his power, and if you become an obvious threat to it, he will be sure to have you eliminated. Because you owe me a debt for the information that I have revealed to you, and we have made a deal, and it is on your_ honor _to uphold it."_

" _What would you know about honor?"_

" _I was Fire Nation once upon a time, too."_

_She says nothing for a while, simply studying the woman with the orange eyes. Then, she barks a laugh._

" _You're an interesting person, 'Ash'," she says. "I don't recall agreeing to any deal with you nor do I owe you any debt. But I'll hold what you said in consideration, and I won't say anything of what you've told me to any other person."_

" _Oh? How so very considerate of you."  
_

The bullhead jerks under Weiss's feet from turbulence, jarring her from her recollection. She grabs the handlebar in time to steady herself.

"Bumpy ride, huh?" Yang says beside her.

"Yeah," Weiss says. "I, um…" She trails off uncertainly.

_(...)_

"Are you nervous?" Yang says, sympathetically. "Me too, actually."

Weiss blinks, then cracks a faint smile. "Maybe I'm still asleep. Did the great Yang Xiao Long just admit to me that she's _nervous_?"

"Nobody can be confident 100% of the time," Yang says. "Though, you know, I can get pretty darn close to that 100%."

The field mission Ozpin that ended up choosing for Team RWBY laid in a quadrant due north of Vale. It seemed like Ozpin was sticking true to his decision of not letting them anywhere near the southeast where the White Fang hideout supposedly was. Blake more than the rest of RWBY was a little upset by his decision. So far, the professional group of Huntsman Ozpin put together had turned up nothing in Mountain Glenn.

Weiss told the rest of Team RWBY that she had, unfortunately, learned nothing of substance either from her meeting with the woman who snuck into the CCT Tower. She told them that the woman had spent most of their time in the restaurant alternating between posturing about how evil she was and making kidnapping slash death threats to Weiss on account of Weiss's family background. She told them that the woman ultimately had possessed enough common sense not to try and make good on any of her threats in the middle of a crowded restaurant, and she had just let Weiss walk out, though not without dropping a few more unspeakable insults and obscenities first.

_(Even Zuzu lies better than you, and that's saying something.)_

"This 'Ash' person sounds so cartoonishly villainous," Blake muttered. "I find it hard to believe that the White Fang would actually work with someone like that. Then again, the White Fang is working with Torchwick…"

"Well, we don't know if she's actually _working_ with the White Fang working with the White Fang," Ruby brought up. "It's just a hunch we have. For all we know, she could be completely unaffiliated with them. I mean, the only thing we know for sure she's done so far is sneak into the Beacon CCT Tower and inflict property damage, right? Do you think we should still talk to Professor Ozpin about the meeting at the restaurant?"

"It seems like she has some kind of weird obsession with you and your family name," Yang said to Weiss, who looked away and said something deflective. "That kind of fits with the White Fang profile. What did she look like without her mask?"

"She had freckles. And a beauty mark under her left eye," Weiss said. "And I noticed that she, um, she kind of smelled like pine. Maybe her… shampoo?"

Weiss really was a horrible liar. She hoped that the one non sequitur truth she threw in last minute there would be enough to confuse her teammates and throw them off track. On the other hand, Weiss hated this. Lying in the first place _._ It was even worse than what she had been doing before the Dance and CCT Tower, going from omission of truth and reluctance to talk to straight up, bald-faced lying.

_(_zu_ always lies.)_

Lying to herself is one thing. Lying to her friends and the people she cares about is another.

" _You're weak the way you are now, but that doesn't mean you don't have certain advantages," Ash says. "For example, as the Schnee heiress, people will look at you and automatically assume you're a spoiled rich girl who has always gotten everything she's ever wanted. So they'll underestimate you."_

_Weiss frowned._ " _Sure, that might be helpful in a physical battle against some people. But it's not much good when you're trying to gather intelligence and track down a person, as you're suggesting I do."_

" _I disagree. People are more likely to have loose lips around someone they think is too stupid to realize what they're saying. Not to mention you have other advantages, too. I'm sure you've noticed that Ozpin favors your team quite a bit. Your leader, Ruby Rose, especially. And you are close to Ruby Rose."_

_"Hmph. That's_ _underhanded."_

" _I prefer strategic."_

" _So in the end, that's about what your big proposition sums up to. You want me to leverage my 'advantages' to figure out where Ozpin is hiding this Maiden girl then kill her and steal her power. Do the dirty work for you."_

" _I'm living proof that a Maiden's power can be split 50/50," Ash purrs. "If I'm being honest, I don't much like the idea of sharing it with anyone. But it's much more important that the Maiden's power does not remain in Ozpin's hands, so I'm willing to compromise. To let_ you _have part of it. Doesn't the idea of getting your fire back sound grand?"_

" _Sure. Grand. I find this to be all so_ _very generous of you. And for what reason is it so important that the power doesn't remain in Ozpin's hands? What's the catch?"_

" _I can't tell you any more than that. Not until you've proven that you're loyal and trustworthy. I admit there's a bit more to the plan than simply killing the Maiden."_

" _You know that I_ ' _m n_ _ot anyone's servant. I won't simply serve you. Tell me everything that you know."_

" _Doing what I say is the only way you'll ever be able to bend again."_

" _The only way I'll ever be able to imitate bending, you mean."_

" _The closest imitation you'll ever get in this world," Ash smiles, eyes glowing. She says, "We are compatriots, you and I— kindred spirits. If you don't want to serve me, perhaps you would consider being my partner."_

" _I already have a—"_

" _I could care less about you, as the Schnee. You, as the firebender, on the other hand."_

Weiss can almost feel the ghost of the woman's breath passing over her skin. Even now, truthfully, Weiss was still thinking about it.

All I have to do, Weiss thinks, is kill—

_(All I have to do is kill—)_

The bullhead's loud drones drown out the rest of the thought. Across from her, Weiss sees Ruby and Blake having a conversation with the Huntsman who they are supposed to be shadowing. As a would-be Huntress, her job is to save lives, not take them. Yet here she is, entertaining the idea of murder.

It's just thinking, Weiss tells herself. Thinking about hurting people doesn't actually hurt people, because it's not as if she's actually going through with it. Besides, it'll be useful to keep in contact with this Ash person from a purely tactical, informational perspective, and if Weiss has to make it seem like she wants to kill a person in order to do so, then so be it. Besides. Weiss hasn't actually agreed to anything concrete either.

" _Having gone through the process myself, I could tell you everything that will happen to you. But I've already given you enough cards to play with," Ash says. "I'll ask you this, though. Do you really believe you died?"_

"Do you remember when I asked you if you believe in reincarnation?" Weiss speaks, suddenly.

"I remember what happened afterwards. Your spar with Jaune and the infirmary," Yang says, quietly, seeming to sense the shift in the mood.

"What about now?" Weiss says. "Have you given it any thought since then?"

"Not really. I just… I think it's a better idea to focus on living in the here and now," Yang says. She gives a hesitant shrug. "Let the dead people worry about what happens after you die. I mean, no one can really know what happens then anyways, right? So let it stay a mystery. Anyways, there's so many other things to think about when you're alive and well. Adventures and family and all the things you love and live for."

"How would you react if you did die, but came back to life?"

"Uh, hm. Well, I'd probably be really confused at first. But after a while, I'd also be really happy, too. I mean, who wouldn't be happy to have a second chance?"

A second chance. Weiss chews over the words. Is she happy here, having her second chance?

"You have that conflicted expression on your face again," Yang says.

"What conflicted expression?"

"The one you wear before you start saying something weird, disturbing, or sad," Yang says. She shifts closer. "Weiss. I'm not stupid. What really went down during your meeting with the woman?"

We discussed how to find and murder someone in the name of getting power, Weiss doesn't say. She can't say it even if she wanted to. She can feel something in her stopping herself, binding the words to the air in her lungs. It's because she gave her word that she wouldn't tell anyone, her honor, and the other her is forcing her to hold to it. 

"She doesn't want me to trust Ozpin," Weiss says. "She doesn't like him. I don't know why. That's all."

The bullhead finally touches down on the ground. The aircraft doors lift open. Ruby and Blake as well as the Huntsman come over to rejoin Weiss and Yang.

"Ready to do this?" Ruby says, voice cheerful. Ever the optimist, Weiss's partner. Her _real_ partner, she emphasizes to herself. Not the woman with the orange eyes. Not ever.

Focus, Weiss. One thing at a time.

"Let's do this," she nods.

↓

"We'll talk again."

From her spot in the corner of the room, Emerald watches the Schnee heiress incline her head, eyes a fierce and unwavering gold. Cinder stands up and makes a gesture with her hands, bringing them together— left hand in a palm held straight vertically, right hand in a fist below the palm— and gives a slight bow. After a second, staring at Cinder with an unreadable expression, the Schnee heiress returns the hand gesture but without bowing. She turns around and disappears out the door, the snowflake emblem emblazoned on the back of her jacket making for one last, prominent image.

Cinder speaks. "You can stop the act, Emerald. I know you're there."

Emerald releases her Semblance, letting out a sigh at the release of tension in her head. She starts to apologize immediately.

"I'm sorry," she says. "I shouldn't have stayed. I was just curious—"

Curious to learn more about you, but Emerald is smart enough to cut herself off. Cinder never likes it when Emerald uses her Semblance to manipulate her. Cinder likes it even less when Emerald asks her about her past.

Cinder, however, doesn't get angry this time. Instead, she just hums, settling back down into her chair to sip at her tea.

"Weiss Schnee," Cinder says, aloud. "Of all people for something like this to happen to. Weiss Schnee, really. She won't last much longer. I can see that her mind is already crumbling."

Cinder chuckles. Emerald says nothing. This isn't the first time that Cinder has brought up the Schnee heiress in this way. The first time was the night of the infiltration of the CCT Tower, when Cinder returned to the dance floor a mix of her usual self-satisfaction and something else Emerald couldn't read. The second time was when she asked Emerald to discreetly bump into the heiress and knock her to the ground in front of the cafeteria, just to see how the girl would react. The third was when she told Emerald to deliver the glass emblem and note.

In present time, Cinder says, "What did you think of her?"

"She was different from what I expected," Emerald responds, carefully.

"More spine," Cinder agrees. "But that wasn't from her. Weiss Schnee is just a lost little snowbird, caught up in a dangerous game."

"I'm confused."

"How much of our conversation could you follow?"

"You were talking about something about fire. Bending. Another… Another world, I think." Before Emerald's courage can fail her, she says, "Was all of that true?"

"Yes," Cinder replies.

"Even the part about—"

"I came from there, too," Cinder says. "Or my soul did, at least. It's all very complicated. Even now, I'm not quite sure how the whole process of it worked. But Remnant is as much my home now as that place ever was."

If it were any other person talking, Emerald would be worried about their sanity. But this is Cinder talking, and she sounds as poised and confident as ever, sipping her tea.

"She'll say yes to me," Cinder says. "She won't be able to say no to the promise of power— she's a firebender to the heart, through and through. It's curious that she can't remember her name, but that's not a significant matter. It looks like she's from a noble family. Served in the military. Clearly well-versed in political negotiations and maneuvering. She'll be a valuable ally."

Emerald still has no idea what Cinder is talking about, from where she picked up all those details, even when Cinder is speaking as if it all should be self-evident.

"Cinder," Emerald begins. "Were you serious about making her your partner?"

"Don't tell me you're jealous," Cinder raises an eyebrow. "Didn't we already have this conversation once about Mercury?"

Emerald flushes. "No! I was just wondering how it'll change the… the group dynamic and the plan."

"Well, you don't have to worry," Cinder says, waving a casual hand. "I'm not really making her my partner. The other her has more spine and she's sharp. But in the end, she's still just another pawn on the table. Like Torchwick and the White Fang and the rest of them. I'll devour her when she's fulfilled her purpose."

_Like_ _I'll devour you_ , Emerald hears the implication loud and clear between the lines, but she bites her lip and ignores it. Emerald is different. She has to be. She matters to Cinder in a way the others don't. 

Cinder Fall's eyes blaze and she smirks. "After all, she has no idea who she's dealing with."

↓

_(She has no idea who she's dealing with.)_

One part of Weiss smiles. The other part, midstep through the crunching leaves, shivers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I get the feeling that I'm rushing a little bit through the story, the pacing feels a little wonky and I'm not totally happy with the characters but I'm also not sure how to fix things. I might do something weird in the next chapter hm
> 
> Thanks everyone for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

The mission was supposed to be easy, straightforward, and perfectly suited for a first year team. Knowing Weiss’s luck, that might’ve been why things went wrong.

They were at the easternmost edge of the Forever Fall Forest, at the boundary between where it and the Emerald Forest began to mix. A couple settlers were attempting to start a village but kept on getting harassed by Beowolves. A few Beowolves by themselves weren’t a problem, but the settlers were worried that the Grimm could be signs of an entire pack waiting not too far in the wings.

Team RWBY, who was only supposed to be there to scout out the forest with the Huntsman, easily found the pack and disposed of it. They found something else, too.

“It looks like this used to be a White Fang camp,” Blake frowned. “They must’ve abandoned it when they moved base closer to Vale and then to the southeast.”

The corpses of the Beowolves which they had cornered and killed together were slowly dissolving into black smoke. Weiss flicked out the tip of Myrtenaster, watching droplets of blood fling from the blade. The tents around them were eerie and silent and weatherworn.

“I’ll include this place in the report,” the Huntsman said, briskly. He sheathed his sword and shot a glance at the setting sun in between the trees. “But we shouldn’t get distracted. This isn’t the objective of our mission. Let’s do one more round around the area to find the stragglers before we figure out where we want to set up for the night.”

They moved to leave the abandoned White Fang campsite which Weiss thought, though a disconcerting place, would have actually made a good place to set up for the night. Team RWBY’s shared glances said that they would definitely be coming back to this place later to investigate further. Then someone’s foot caught on something metallic and hollow. And that was about when the bombs went off.

In the present time, Weiss staggers to her feet and limps herself over to Blake. She’s covered in burns and she’s twisted her ankle and her ears are ringing from the explosions because god dammit, of course the White Fang had rigged their campsite with bombs before they left and of course her Aura’s broken again. Weiss can’t hear a single thing through the ringing in her ears, can barely see anything through all the smoke except her teammate’s prone form on the ground a few feet from her. The edge of a hysteria-filled war-related memory creeps up her head but for now she’s able to grab ahold of and tide it off with a strange ease. Now would be the worst time to get trapped in a memory throe.

Weiss kneels beside Blake and shakes her shoulder. _Blake?_

She assumes she’s said her Faunus teammate’s name aloud but she can’t be sure without being able to hear her own voice. Blake coughs then rolls over onto her back, groaning. Blake’s eyes are glazed over but slowly coming back into focus. Weiss checks her over for injuries— nothing visible, even her clothes are fine. Her Aura is probably still healthy. Weiss climbs painfully back to her feet and goes to look for the rest of their teammates and almost topples straight off into the edge of a pit.

 _Fuck,_ Weiss thinks she says, barely catching her balance in time. She decides to go back over to Blake and sit down on the ground besides her. She’s going to wait for the smoke to clear and some of her hearing to repair itself before committing to any concrete actions. Yeah. That’s the plan. That’s a good plan. She tastes something in her mouth— the smoke and grit. Weiss spits onto the ground.

The memory of smoke, soot, ash… The memories, plural, more like it. Weiss sucks in a breath and presses a closed fist into her temple. One, two, three. She’s alive. There’s no war here. Inhale. Exhale. Shudder. She hopes Ruby and Yang are fine. They have to be fine. _She’s_ fine.

Her head hurts, but it’s a different kind of headache pain than she’s normally used to. She tests for the voice, the other her. She still can’t hear anything. Not even her own thoughts anymore, it seems.

“Are Ruby and Yang down there?”

“What?” Weiss says, blankly. When had Blake stood up? Now her hearing is back, faintly, and the smoke around them is gone. It’s darker than she remembers— the sun set some time ago. Blake is staring at the giant pit in front of them, a sinkhole into the ground.

“Come on. We need to go find them.” Blake helps her to her feet. She looks at Weiss then bites her lip. “Shit. Weiss. Did you hit your head?”

“No, I…” Weiss trails off. She frowns. It’s getting harder to concentrate.

“You did. This isn’t good. Twice in two months. Were you ever fully cleared from your concussion?”

Well, obviously it’s not good, Blake. 

“You got them to let me leave early, remember?” Weiss says.

“That was a mistake, clearly,” Blake exhales. “I didn’t know then that your Aura would be so...”

“There’s nothing wrong with my Aura. It wasn’t a mistake. They were poisoning me. Okay, they probably weren’t. But I was sure they were.”

“Stay here. Don’t move. I’ll go look for them.”

Suddenly Weiss is on the ground again, pressed against the base of a tree. Myrtenaster is clasped in between her sweat-slicked fingers. Blake is hovering above her, expression worried as she adjusts Weiss’s position, casting worried glances around them.

Weiss squints at the outline of her teammate. “Since when did you have cat ears, Mai?”

“Weiss,” Not-Mai— Blake— says. “Listen to me. This is important.”

“I’m listening.”

“Stay here. Don’t move. Don’t make any sounds. Try to stay awake if you can.”

“Are you going to leave me again?”

“I’ll be back soon.”

“Oh,” she says. “Well, I don’t really believe you. You don’t have a great track record with like, not betraying and abandoning me.”

“Be safe, Weiss.”

And then Blake is gone.

Weiss blinks.

She stares at nothing for a long time. All her limbs… It feels like they’re floating away from her. She stays awake only because the idea of sleep doesn’t occur to her.

And then Blake is back.

She blinks again.

Blake snarls. “I’ve always wanted to kill you. I hate you, you know that, Schnee?” Without another word, she drives Gambol Shroud into Weiss’s right shoulder, pinning her to the tree. Weiss stares up into Blake’s crimson eyes, Blake’s drooling jaws. “I’m not afraid of you anymore."

Why wouldn’t you be afraid of me? Weiss wants to ask, curious. You know, you really should have feared me more. 

Myrtenaster is still clasped in her hand. Weiss has a sword. She should fight back. Weiss uses her left thumb to spin the chamber in a familiar movement. White Dust, or Red Dust? Ice, or fire? Which should she choose? It’s always one or the other, teetering between the two. Both can’t exist at the same time.

It doesn’t matter. Just pick one. Her eyes feel like they’re growing heavy. Blake’s face transforms, getting more angular… Her father… Oh. She can’t hurt her father, can she? He’s the only one who ever cared for her.

Her father…

...

Her hand goes limp. Someone cries out her name. “Weiss!”

She’s…

She…

…

↓

Weiss wakes up in a field of endless fog in every direction.

“Oh,” she says, numbly. She looks down on herself and sees her miraculously once more intact shoulder. “So, I died.”

“You’re not dead.”

Weiss looks up.

Out of the fog emerges a girl with dark hair and golden eyes staring at her, dressed in red robes. Fire Nation, Weiss thinks. Her eyes trail to the crown of the girl’s head, where she expects, almost instinctively, to see a golden headpiece. There is none. Her eyes go back to the girl’s face, the fine, royal features, the set of her expression, incredibly alien yet at the same time intimately familiar.

The girl stops about five feet away from her. The girl, Weiss realizes, is a little taller than she is. She carries herself with a grace and poise that Weiss knows then that she can never truly accomplish, only imitate.

This is their first meeting, face to face, as only themselves and not also the other.

“Weiss Schnee,” the girl says. She brings her hands together, fist to palm, and bows.

“I… I don’t know your name,” Weiss says, helplessly. “I’m sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” the girl says. She straightens. “Every day I’m in this place I forget a bit of myself a little more. My name was the first thing that was lost to me. So it doesn’t matter."

“But it’s your name. It should matter.”

“What did you once say? That I live through you now? That my words have to go through you, or they won’t go anywhere? Something like that.”

“In the beginning,” Weiss recognizes. “To my teammates. When I first realized you were there. I didn’t know you could hear me.”

“If you can hear me, then of course I can hear you.”

The girl takes a step towards her.

She says, “I don’t remember clearly how I got to this place. Maybe you could find the memories. I’ve never been good at remembering, but somehow, you remember things that I haven’t thought about in years, from before I became a monster.”

“You’re not… We’re not…” Weiss looks away. “You’re not crazy. You’re not a monster. You did some bad things, but you were in pain.”

“You don’t have to make excuses for me. I am more than capable of it myself. That woman with the orange eyes,” the girl says, stepping in closer. “She means to do you harm. She will kill you and your friends, given the opportunity. You won’t be able to stop her. But I can deal with her. I am an excellent fighter and a capable strategist. All you have to do is do let me take over.”

“What? I… I don’t understand. Take over?”

There are shapes forming in the fog behind the girl’s shoulder. Weiss’s breath quickens. She recognizes them. 

It’s her father. Jacques. He smiles at her, kind. Besides him, her mother, face clear of age lines and sober for the first time since she can remember. Then, finally, Whitley. Gaze bright and steady, hands clasped behind his back.

Their bodies flicker. For a moment, Weiss sees different people in their place. She sees a man with long dark hair in crimson robes, a crown atop his head, a prideful stance. A woman who looks to the side with a fond expression, at her son. A boy with a burn scar. 

Zuzu. They reach towards her, with plaintive fingers. Come here, _zu__. More and more figures emerge from the fog. A girl who reminds her of Ruby. A girl who reminds her of Blake. 

“Take my place here,” the girl says. “And I’ll take yours. Let me become the dominant one in your body, the one with all the control.”

“But…” Her eyes are fixated on the figures behind the girl. “Can I even do that? Is that even possible?”

“Even though you act cold and indifferent, you are a bleeding heart. You’re soft and indecisive. That’s why the woman with the orange eyes said ‘as you are now’, you won’t be able to firebend. If you just listen to me— just listen to me— I’ll make you into a true fighter.”

“Firebending, again,” Weiss says. A lump is growing in her throat. She finally tears her gaze away from the figures in the fog only to see that the girl is standing right in front of her now, close enough that she can count the girl’s eyelashes. “It’s always firebending with you. Can’t you care about anything else?”

“I think you know how I am,” the girl says, and smiles, a razor-thin expression with no humor. “What else should I care about?”

“I don’t know. Something… Something else.”

“What? Like revenge? Like becoming Fire Lord?”

Weiss tries to swallow. The lump remains. “We’re not going to do what that woman said,” Weiss says. “We’re not going to kill a person.”

“We won’t kill a wounded, defenseless girl, of course,” the girl who is Weiss but not Weiss says, and puts her hands on Weiss’s shoulders. “But I think that woman herself is fair game, isn’t she? You don’t like her. I don’t like her. The answer to the problem is perfectly simple.”

The hands on her shoulders rest lightly but Weiss feels them like boulders. “No. I won’t let you kill _anyone_. And about giving you control, switching— I won’t take your place here. I still don’t trust you. I— I think you’re just trying to use me so that you can get your bending back. The things you want. Nothing more than that. Even though you’re not a monster, at the end of the day, you’re still… you’re still not a good person.”

Weiss hates this. She barely has the courage at all to say what she does. But even if she hates it, it is the plain, unalterable truth.

The girl is not a good person.

She is strong and smart and courageous and cunning, all the things that ought to make a good leader, a better Huntress, a better Weiss. But she is not a good person.

“Your sense of morals, is it?” the girl sneers. “How very dutiful and _hypocritical_ of you. I know you hate me. You wish I were gone. You think you’re better off without me.”

“I don’t hate you,” Weiss says, quietly. “In a lot of ways, I think I see myself in you. I’m not exactly a good person, either. Just as I know you, you know me as well.”

The silence hangs between the two of them, heavy and oppressive. The girl says nothing for a while. Her golden eyes bore into Weiss with a disarming intensity that makes Weiss feel like she is staring into a mirror again, waiting for something to tip over the edge. Those are bottomless eyes. Weiss almost wishes her head would start hurting, so she could have a distraction from the blood pounding through her ears. She wishes she could read and understand that expression.

She feels cold.

“I rehearsed that speech, you know,” the girl says. And suddenly, her hands are moving from Weiss’s shoulders to lock around Weiss’s throat. “So be it.”

Weiss’s eyes widen as she feels her air supply instantly cut off and she starts to choke. This isn’t the real world, is it? She’s not actually in this place, wherever she is, is she? But it feels real. In a way, wherever they are, it’s real. That iron hard, crushing grip, totally lacking in hesitation and mercy.

Weiss struggles, trying to shove the girl away. She finds herself thrown onto the ground, pinned down. Her own hands close uselessly around the other girl’s wrists.

“You should’ve just listened to me,” the other girl says, from above her. “You should’ve listened. But you’re _weak_ , Weiss Schnee, just like my brother. Just like everyone else. Please. You’re nothing like me.”

Weiss gasps. She can feel dots collecting in her field of vision. She struggles to form words. The girl is actually trying to kill her. “I…”

“I’m strong,” the other girl hisses, grip tightening. “I don’t deserve to be stuck here, in the same body as you, in this world. I deserve better. I’ve always deserved better.”

The pressure around Weiss’s throat abruptly dissipates. Weiss rolls over on her side, sputtering for breath. She looks up, and the warning she was trying to issue dissipates, too.

The same brother who the girl called weak has his hand wrapped around his sister’s wrist. Suddenly, the girl looks so small, standing next to him, looking up at his face with wide, golden eyes.

“Why don’t you give it up already?” Zuko says, sounding bored. “You’re not fooling anyone. You’re a failure.”

It’s a delayed reaction, but the girl shrieks. She tugs at her arm in a frenzy and begins desperately trying to back away but Zuko has her held fast, his feet anchored solidly. That earlier composure, that cold ruthlessness, has vanished into a sheer mindless panic.

Another figure manifests out of the fog. Ozai. He reaches for the girl and grabs the girl’s other wrist. “Worthless thing,” he sighs. “You never learn well, do you?”

“Father, no! I can still prove myself! Let me prove myself! I’m—!”

And then, the third figure, Ursa. “Daughter of mine,” she says, shaking her head, disappointed. “Really, even for a monster, you are a nothing.”

Ursa caresses the girl’s cheek once then turns and starts to walk away. Zuko and Ozai follow Ursa in the same direction, dragging the girl through her screams and struggles, away from Weiss. The girl is all but hysterical now. She starts to disappear into the layers of the fog, the edges of her figure vanishing like thin smoke. “No! NO!”

The girl looks up. Across the vast gulf that exists between them, her eyes lock into Weiss’s. For a moment, Weiss sees only herself. She sees Jacques, backhanding her across the face, Willow, bottle in hand and looking passively away, Whitley cowering.

It’s Weiss’s turn to scream. “ _Stop!”_

The fog clears.

↓

She’s in a white, padded room, lit by a single light above. The air is cold, below freezing. Weiss turns around and sees the girl sitting in a chair, curled up with her arms around the knees.

The girl has dark hair and golden eyes. She’s wearing red robes, crownless. The set of her expression is impossibly familiar.

“In the end, I couldn’t do anything,” the girl says. “I don’t have anything. I’m just a failure, a worthless thing, a nothing.”

Weiss reaches for her. She says, “I’m here for you.”

“You can’t possibly understand the way I feel,” the girl says. “You can’t.”

“It’s okay to let yourself remember,” Weiss says. “I know it hurts and it’s confusing and it makes you want to lash out. But it’s okay. I’ll help you.”

“You can’t help me.”

“I can, if you’ll let me.”

“I’m a monster.”

“You’re not. You’re just in pain.”

“Why am I still here?” the girl says, resigned. “I don’t understand. There’s no reason for me to be here or anywhere. Being alive. It’s such a stupid joke.”

She’s just a kid, Weiss thinks. We were only kids. She comes to a realization. In the end, it is as much Weiss who is unable to let the girl go and let her move on. It is Weiss who thinks, _This is your second chance, I want you to live._ It is Weiss who has imposed the burden of this will on her.

“Tell me your name,” Weiss begs. “Please.”

“I told you that I don’t remember,” the girl says. “It’s gone. It doesn’t matter.”

Weiss wants to reach out to touch her. But even as she tries to draw close, the other girl is drawing away.

“Don’t pity me,” the girl snarls. “Pity yourself. You’ve made a horrible choice letting me stay here. You could’ve gotten rid of me a long time ago if you really wanted. You’re the one who let me in. You’re… Well. The truth is, you’re stronger than me.”

“It’s not a matter of strength,” Weiss says. “Not everything has to be divided that way. I’m not stronger than you, not at all. Just luckier.”

“You’ll have to kill me sooner or later.”

“No.”

“You’ll have to.”

“No.”

“What if I told you I was killing you?”

Weiss blinks.

The girl sighs, a long and impossibly tired sound, and covers her eyes with the back of her hand.

“I think you’ve already realized this but you’re just in denial,” the girl murmurs. “That thing you call your Aura is deteriorating. When it comes down to it, the reason is simple. It’s your soul being devoured by mine.”

“My soul,” Weiss repeats, not understanding. “Being… devoured?”

“The way things are progressing now, it’s only a matter of time before I gain full control of your body anyways,” the girl says. “And then you really will be dead, and there will only be me. Two souls can’t exist in the same body forever. Something has to give eventually. You won’t be able to take the strain of sustaining me.”

“But—!”

“I said it was a horrible choice,” the girl says. She laughs, a hollow sound. “Are you rethinking your decision now? Won’t you kill me? Aren’t I a parasite?”

Weiss looks away.

“How did you even end up here?” Weiss asks. “How… How did you lose your original body? Did you die? Do you really not remember?”

“I looked into a river, and fell into another place, and from there, into here,” the girl says. “I don’t know how or anymore than that. As for my body, I’m sure it’s still stuck in that place in the in between, the Spirit World.”

Weiss seizes onto that information with sudden, renewed hope. “Then we just need to find your body there again,” Weiss says. “You can go back to it. And we can both live.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Why?”

“How can I possibly go find anything when I’m trapped in a place like this?”

“We can look harder. More research. If you entered my world through the Spirit World, then there has to be a way to enter it from here.”

“Like looking hard and research helped you with anything so far. You’ve found nothing.”

“It’s doable. We just have to change our approach.”

“I think it was your brother who once told you this. Whitley, was it? You are an idealistic fool. Even before you came to this school and were affected by your team’s nonsense. You would throw away your chance to rule the world away just to play soldier.” 

“And no one said you could conquer Ba Sing Se, but you did it anyways,” Weiss snaps. “No one said you could do any of the things you did, but you fucking did them anyways, because you’re _you,_ you defied destiny, the heavens, and yet here you are, just giving up before even starting. If I was idealistic, what were you then, huh? Where did all your confidence suddenly go? You’re supposed to be dead but you’re not. If you’re going to kill me anyways, then at least make it worth it!”

The girl stares at her. Weiss doesn’t back down this time, doesn’t hesitate, just meets her stare evenly.

She sees a spark of something buried but familiar in that gold color.

“A speech as stupid as that,” the girl says, slowly, unwrapping her arms from her knees. “I’m really going to let myself be inspired by it?”

“Yes,” Weiss said. “At the very least, you owe me that much.”

“I don't owe you anything. I’m the princess of the Fire Nation and the greatest firebender to walk any world and you’re just an icicle peasant.”

“There we go again, that unbeatable arrogance,” Weiss rolls her eyes despite herself. “Also, icicle peasant?”

“What can I say? Your brain is rotting mine.”

The girl stands up and stretches. She glances at their surroundings and abruptly they dissolve. Now they’re standing in a stone courtyard, the sunlight streaming from overhead. The sky above them is so very blue.

“So you’ll do this. You’ll let me help the both of us live,” Weiss says. 

“At the very least, there’s a lot of people who I still need to pay back,” the girl says. “Revenge is a great motivator.”

“That’s the thing you took away from our conversation? Are you joking?”

“No. And, you need to give me control.”

“I already told you—”

“Maybe not all of it,” the girl says, seriously. “But still, you need to give me more. We need to reach a balance. Stop fighting against me all the time. You already refer to me as the other ‘you’ anyways. It’s ridiculous that I of all people have to give you the ‘let’s work together’ speech. Yin Yang, push pull—Balance.”

Weiss says, hesitantly, “You’re telling me to trust you.”

“I’m trusting you,” the girl says, simply. “You said I’m not a monster. Then believe it. If you want to help me so badly, then let me help you first.”

The girl holds out a hand.

“Well then, Weiss Schnee?” she says.

↓

Weiss wakes up in the infirmary again. She touches her forehead. 

A memory.

“That's right," she says, only vaguely surprised. “It’s Azula.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I guessed we reached a turning point in the story! I really thought about taking the Ozpin route with the two souls things but I decided to take a different approach, I like Azula and Weiss better as more individual characters.
> 
> I think it's time to write a chapter from someone in the Avatar universe POV next :0


	11. Chapter 11

After Weiss awakens, it takes some time to get used to how cleanly Azula’s voice comes through in her mind now. How amazingly and wonderfully  _ her _ , in the present, lucid and sharp and brilliant instead of fogged over by invisible somethings and trapped in sudden and inexplicable throes of bad memories. It’s like having a part of herself back that she didn’t realize was missing. The headaches that used to torment her are completely gone. In a way, giving up some of her control has given more of it back to her. She feels more like Weiss than she has in months.

_ Azula,  _ Weiss thinks, and the giddiness is almost unstoppable. That’s right. Her name is  _ Azula. _

_ You’re more happy about remembering my name than I am,  _ Azula observes.  _ Oh, I get it. You’re still doped up on illicit substances. _

_ Somehow, I feel like we made progress,  _ Weiss thinks back.  _ I don’t know. Real progress, more than anything we’ve made before! We can… We can communicate with each other so much better now! _

_ I told you splitting control was a good idea, wasn’t it?  _ Azula says, and radiates entirely too much smugness.  _ We’re more individual like this, when we aren’t constantly battling each other. _

_ Oh, hush you. _

It’s when Ruby drops by the infirmary to tell her that she’s been suspended from all her classes until further notice that Weiss finally loses a bit of her high.

“...What?” she says, so flatly she doesn’t think her voice can go any flatter.

Ruby looks about as unhappy as Weiss is feeling. “It’s because you’ve been hurt badly again,” Ruby says. “It might be for the best if you take the time off to properly heal.”

“You can’t seriously be telling me this is a good thing, Ruby,” Weiss says. “What about the Vytal Tournament? Isn’t that in barely two weeks?”

“Ten days,” Ruby admits. “You were unconscious for a while. I’m considering dropping us out.”

“Don’t do that.”

“It might be for the best.”

There’s a moment of silence, then Weiss says, “What is it that you aren't telling me?”

Ruby takes a breath, closes her eyes for a moment. When she opens them again, her gaze is steely. “We told Professor Ozpin about the voice in your head.”

_ I knew you couldn’t trust them!  _ Azula snaps immediately, but Weiss can tell that underneath the smugness, even Azula feels betrayed and disappointed.  _ I knew it. _

“I told you all the things I did in full confidence, Ruby,” Weiss says, trying her best to hide her own feelings of betrayal. “You gave your word that you would be discreet about it.”

“I know. But you almost  _ died _ ,” Ruby says. “You didn’t see how much you were bleeding back there. At one point, your heart stopped. You did die, for a full minute. If we had been even one second later…”

_ Oh,  _ Azula thinks, then further, somewhat clinically,  _ That would have been when I was trying to strangle you. _

_ Oh,  _ Weiss thinks, not knowing what to say.  _ I almost died... _

“We told Ozpin, because we think you really need help, help that I… help that the team can’t entirely give you. We can’t just… pretend that what’s going on is not a problem, that what we’ve done so far is working or enough when it’s obviously not. We can’t handle it. You’re not handling it.”

“I fixed the craziness,” Weiss offers. “I mean. The girl and I. We’re on good terms now. I don't think there will be anymore outbursts moving forward. We’ve come to an understanding.”

“Weiss,” Ruby says, voice cracking, wiping at a tear that’s abruptly started streaking down her cheek, and Weiss stares. “You almost  _ died _ on our mission. This isn’t just about that anymore. What’s wrong with your Aura? There’s something wrong with it.”

Ruby takes Weiss’s hand and squeezes.  _ You shouldn’t tell her about what I’m doing to your soul,  _ Azula says.  _ That I’m killing you. _

If Weiss needed any further sobering, there it is, an unpleasant reminder like a cold shock.  _ I don’t want to lie about things,  _ she says.  _ I promised I wouldn’t. _

_ For once, this would be an altruistic lie,  _ Azula argues.  _ Look, this girl cares about you, clearly. How upset do you think she will be to find out you’re going to die unless we can fix things? She’ll be devastated. _

_ I’m not going to die, because we’re going to fix things, remember? _

_ That’s not my point, Weiss,  _ Azula says,  _ and you’re smart enough to know it. Besides, she broke her promise first, so it’s only fair that you get to return the favor. If she got to tell the Headmaster about me, then you get to keep things from her and the others. _

_ I am… a bit angry about that,  _ Weiss admits.  _ Even though I understand why she did what she did, I am angry. _

Weiss takes a slow, evening breath of air. Still, she doesn’t know what to say, or if she’s capable of saying anything at all. Still, she doesn’t know what the right thing to do in this situation is, wavering.

She almost died. She squeezes Ruby’s hand back, shifts in the bed and feels the crackle of pain in her shoulder through the painkillers. Azula takes the reins and says, “My Aura’s going to be fine, I’m sure, so you can calm down.”

Weiss has had the experience of her mouth moving without her willing it to before, and past the instinctive creepiness of it, it actually doesn’t feel that strange. Azula speaks with an easy breeziness, projecting complete confidence.

Ruby says, “You don’t know how worried we are about you, Weiss.”

“Don’t be. I’ll be up and ready before you know it. We  _ will _ be competing in that tournament in ten days. You’ll see that I’m perfectly fine. Third time’s the charm and all that nonsense.”

“But you’re not fine,” Ruby says. “You haven’t been fine for a long time.”

Weiss can feel that Azula’s going to say some ridiculous lie, a complete bluff, but she’s spared it when there’s a bit of a commotion coming from the direction of the door. Another second, and a person is strolling into view. White hair tied in a bun, severe blue eyes, military uniform. It’s Winter, Weiss’s sister. 

Weiss can’t entirely work through her sudden incredible shock. Winter? What is Winter doing here? The high from earlier starts to come back. Still, Azula is the one still in control of Weiss’s mouth and says, before Weiss can wrest control back, “Oh, goodie. I almost forgot that you’re a person who exists, too.”

Winter frowns so deeply then that Weiss can feel the disapproval cut her to the bone. Winter’s eyes flick up to meet Weiss’s and widens before narrowing.  _ Oh my god!  _ Weiss thinks in mortification and does the mental equivalent of a body check.

“I mean, I’m so happy to see you!” Weiss hurries to say. “It’s been too long!”

Instead of responding directly to Weiss, Winter ignores her and turns to Ruby, who is still there. “...I wish to speak with my sister,” Winter says in a cold, clipped tone that immediately sets Weiss on edge. “In private. Whoever you are, please remove yourself from this room immediately.”

Ruby stands up slowly. “I’m Weiss’s partner and team leader,” she says. “I… I’d like to stay, if I can.”

“I see,” Winter says, in that same cold, clipped tone of voice that has gotten even colder if possible. “So, you’re her team leader then. So, you’re the one who is responsible for her being hurt, since it happened under your none too careful watch. What a disastrously led training mission.”

“Winter!” Weiss says, flustered. “That’s not what happened!”

“Explain yourself,” Winter says to Ruby, still ignoring her.

“Yes,” Ruby says, quietly. “You’re… You’re right. It is my fault. I take full responsibility for what happened.”

“ _ What? _ ” Weiss exclaims. She flashes back to the White Fang camp—the hidden bombs that no one could have predicted, her hallucinations and delusions. “No, Ruby, wait, you can’t really think that—”

“I won’t repeat myself again,” Winter says. “You will leave us now.” And Ruby, one last look at Weiss, something in her face seeming so young and at once breakable, dips her head and nods once before she leaves.

A pervasive, all-consuming sort of silence. A lingering heaviness.  _ You really can’t tell Ruby Rose about your soul now, you understand?  _ Azula says.  _ Do I need to reiterate that she’ll be devastated? _

_ No, I…  _ Weiss thinks, numbly, watching the place where Ruby has vanished. Ruby was gone, just like that.  _ I understand. You’re right. I didn’t think that she would feel so guilty. _

_ It’s because she’s soft,  _ Azula says.  _ Or, as you would probably say, a good and kind person. Anyways, I think you better prepare yourself for a long and difficult conversation ahead of you. Probably the first of a few, if the Headmaster really does know about my existence now. _

As if taking that as her cue, Winter finally turns to her and says, “You’re ill.”

“Well,” Weiss says, after a moment. “It’s not really an illness, so to speak. And it’s under control.”

“You haven’t been calling me lately,” Winter says. “You’ve been distant. Is this the reason why?”

She’s looking Weiss straight in the eyes as she says that and Weiss tries not to squirm. She realizes what that must mean. Her eyes have changed colors.

Weiss says, weakly, “I didn’t want to worry you.”

“You’ve gone and done beyond that,” Winter says, tightly.

That’s an effective punch in the gut if any. Weiss says, “I’m sorry.”

The two of them aren’t normally much for open affection, but still Winter opens her arms, steps in close, and hugs her. Weiss inhales sharply before slowly relaxing into her sister’s arms. It’s been too long. She missed her sister. In the entire world, Winter is one of the only, if not the only person, who can make her feel safe, as if everything is going to turn out okay. Winter makes Weiss think of the good childhoods that neither her nor Azula had.

_ It will be okay,  _ Weiss thinks, with a certain measure of resolve.  _ It has to be. _

_ I don’t remember the last time I’ve been held by anyone,  _ Azula thinks, and it’s with such intense yearning it almost makes Weiss start to cry, and actually she does start to, a little bit of tearing up right then and there before she can help herself, and then Azula does the mental equivalent of a double-take, a retreat.  _ Wait, I… No. I didn’t mean to say that. How…? _

Really, what a rollercoaster of emotions. From waking up then to Ruby and now to this. “I’m sorry,” Weiss says, again. “I’m sorry.”

She goes on to tell Winter about Azula and the basics of the situation starting from a couple months ago. Azula disapproves but in a way, it’s a necessity. If her team knows and the woman with the orange eyes knows, then at the very least Winter should know, and maybe Winter can help her. Winter stands still and is silent during the duration of her story, of which Weiss leaves out a few noticeable details, like the deterioration of her Aura, like how she might be dying. 

Finally, Winter says, “This is a lot to accept.”

“I know it sounds unbelievable,” Weiss says. “But it’s the truth.”

“So that girl is in there right now?” Winter says. “In your head?”

Azula makes Weiss roll her eyes. “I have a name, Specialist,” she says. “You can use it.”

Winter’s mouth thins. Weiss winces. Eventually, Winter says, “I always thought it was strange, when I first began training you, the things you knew.”

“...What do you mean?”

“You had a natural inclination for hand to hand combat,” Winter says, “even though your body was never built for it. Certain concepts you picked up entirely too easily. Sometimes, the way you held yourself, it reminded me of other soldiers. I always dismissed these observations because they didn’t make sense.”

“I was more than a soldier,” Azula frowns. 

“She’s been fighting her whole life,” is what Weiss adds, and Azula hisses.

_ You don’t need to make me sound like a charity case. _

_ I’m not. Besides, Winter doesn’t do pity. _

“I’ve never heard of anything like this happening before to anyone,” Winter says, shaking her head.

“I don’t fully understand how it happened myself,” Weiss admits. “But I feel like I’ve always had a connection to Azula, even if I didn’t consciously recognize it before, in my dreams.”

“If her Aura truly is bound to yours, and you somehow have two souls in your body, then the best way to fix things is to sever that connection as quickly and as cleanly as possible,” Winter folds her arms behind her back. “The Atlesian military has access to some technology that could help you with this. We’ve done a lot of cutting edge research into Aura applications. I can’t talk about it much, however, considering it’s highly classified, but I can speak with the General, and then we might—”

“Hold up,” Azula injects herself, scowling. “You don’t mean you’re going to tell your military superior about this, are you?”

“General Ironwood is a very trustworthy man,” Winter says. 

“No,” Azula says. “That’s a no.”

“Weiss—”

“ _ No _ ,” Azula hisses. “There’s already too many people who know about this. Her teammates. The headmaster.  _ You. _ The more people that know, the more it puts us in potential jeopardy. This is a delicate situation. I’ll be clear here, I don’t trust any of you, least of all you, Specialist.”

_ Azula!  _ Weiss protests.

_ I agreed to work with you, but not anyone else,  _ Azula says. Weiss feels her face’s scowl deepen.  _ What happened to your relentless optimism? If we’re going to do this we can do this on our own. By ourselves. _

_ That’s not at all what I was trying to say back there! _

_ I would’ve thought that was— _

“This isn’t the time to be stubborn,” Winter says. “I don’t appreciate you holding my sister as a hostage. Let her speak.”

“If anything, I’m the one who’s her hostage,” Azula sneers. “This whole thing that’s happened—she’s equally at fault.”

Weiss says, more charitably, “I think we just want to be careful.”

A new voice enters the conversation then, crackling from something fixed to Winter’s jacket.  _ “I believe I can shed some light on the situation a little further, Miss Schnee, regarding how we think we can help you. And believe me, we would only want to help you, and perhaps along the way, you could help us, too.” _

_ “And I already know of things as well,” _ another voice, more curt.  _ “I’ve been right here the entire time.” _

It takes a second for Weiss to process the voices. Ozpin and Ironwood? She blinks and stares at the something fixed to Winter’s jacket. Wait, don’t tell her, Winter has been wearing a bug this entire time? The headmaster and the general have been listening in on their conversation? 

It takes another second for Weiss to fully process the implications of her thought. Then, the emotion Weiss tastes, Azula’s rage and her own disbelief, is so intense it’s almost nauseating. “What the  _ fuck,”  _ Azula snarls, and Weiss climbs out of bed.

Winter has the decency to look somewhat taken aback.

_ “Don’t blame your sister,”  _ Ozpin’s voice comes through, calmly.  _ “I was worried you would try to hide things and the matter is time-sensitive, and you didn’t seem to be opening up to Miss Rose, so I asked—” _

“Ruby, too?” And that’s Weiss’s own woundedness coming through, making her want to pause and stop, but Azula just blazes onwards. “Everyone’s just making a habit of betraying me nowadays, are they? My mother’s been hard at work, has she?”

Azula goes to rip the IVs out of her arm. Weiss, maybe in a moment of weakness, lets her. 

“If we’re going to play this stupid game, then we’re going to play this game,” Azula says. “Come and talk to me face to face, you  _ cowards. _ ”

↓

Weiss made it about two steps off her bed before her knees buckled and Winter had to catch her before she face-planted. That put a bit of a damper on her immediate plans for vengeance. She also, unfortunately, passed out.

When Weiss wakes up the next time, later in the same day, it feels like her head has become even more clearer, if possible.

_ We’re going to approach this calmly,  _ Weiss says. She’s the one who takes the IVs out this time. She stands up, tests the pain _ — _ it’s tolerable. 

_ You’re furious, too,  _ Azula says.  _ Don’t pretend to be the completely better person here and say you’re not. _

_ Being angry isn’t useful. _

_ But you are. _

_ Now that they know, we might as well listen to what they have to say. It sounds like they can really help us. _

_ You’re giving them the benefit of the doubt after that drivel?  _

_ I want to do whatever it takes to get the best outcome for you, for the both of us,  _ Weiss says.  _ These feelings… We can deal with them without getting overly worked up. There’s a lot at stake. _

_ Well, aren’t you the mature one?  _ Azula scoffs, but she’s quiet for a bit, mulling over Weiss’s words.  _ Fine. But I’m not taking back any of the things I said. I don’t trust any of them and you shouldn’t either. _

_ Why don’t you like Winter? _

_ The question you should be asking is what’s there to like?  _ Azula says. And then, tersely,  _ She abandoned you. _

_ We kept in touch when she was in the military. I look up to her. _

_ She left you in that place with your rat of a father and bitch of a mother. _

_ This is more than just that,  _ Weiss says, hesitantly.  _ I can feel… _

Slipping into the hallway, the realization hits her like a bolt of lightning, and she falters.

_ They never visited you, did they?  _ Weiss says.  _ Not a single time. None of them. _

_ I know what people are like. For all that they pretend to be good and righteous, to care, when it comes down to it, they don’t. Zuko threw me in the asylum to forget about me. He left me with nothing, no honor, no dignity, left me worse off than dead. Even I wouldn’t have done that to him if I was Fire Lord. And still, he has the audacity to torment my mind. The only times I ever had a moment of escape was when— _

_ When? _

_ When I was asleep,  _ Azula says, begrudgingly.  _ When I was asleep, and I didn’t have nightmares, because I was dreaming of your life. The truth is, sometimes I feel like I understand you better than I understand myself. Your personality. Your weaknesses. What and who hurt you.  _

_...That might be how I feel about you,  _ Weiss realizes. 

_ It’s just the perspective, probably,  _ Azula says,  _ that comes from having some distance. I felt contempt for you. I thought how you were would make you easier to manipulate. But in the end, I suppose I didn’t understand you well enough, and so here we are. _

Weiss slips into the RWBY dorm. Blake is there, alone, and Blake freezes at the sight of her.

“...Blake,” Weiss says.

“Don’t be mad at Ruby,” Blake says. “I was the one who pressured her into telling Ozpin. If anything, blame me.”

“The anger will go away in time,” Weiss says. “And I don’t really want to be angry at you or anyone. I just want things to be better.”

“I shouldn’t have left you alone there, back in the forest,” Blake says with a guilt-riddled voice. “The Grimm _ — _ ”

“It’s just an injury. It’ll heal.” Her eyes drift to the sides, waywards. “Some other things are more difficult to recover from.”

She changes out of the infirmary gown into more normal, everyday clothing. Her Aura feels good, almost the way it was before all of this began, but she knows that that’s probably only a facade. Temporary. A momentary calm.

_ Another reason we have to approach this calmly,  _ Weiss says.  _ We have to conserve our strength and pick and choose our battles. _

_ Let me handle the conversation with the headmaster and the general,  _ Azula says.  _ I’m better at dealing with this kind of stupid game and the maneuvering it requires. Like I said, if they want to play it like that, we’ll play it like that.  _

“I wanted to let you know that we didn’t tell Ozpin about this,” Blake says, coming up to her, and presses something into her palm. It’s the black glass emblem in the shape of the symbol of the Fire Nation.

That’s right. The woman with the orange eyes is still out there, somewhere, waiting for Weiss’s answer to her 'proposition'. And she made some very interesting claims about Ozpin. Weiss stares at the emblem. Blinks. Turns it over. She hasn't forgotten about what the woman told her, of course, but it had been temporarily pushed to the back of her mind.  


It’s not as if she has no leverage in this situation. 

_ We're not killing anyone. _

_Still, if we do things correctly..._

“Good,” she says. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally wrote a chapter from Zuko's perspective, but it didn't fit timeline-wise, so I'll put in the story sometime later
> 
> I kind of want to write a fight scene, it feels like it's been a while since I've done one, too bad fight scenes are like my mortal weakness lol
> 
> Thanks everyone for reading!


End file.
